Complications of the Supernatural
by The Gospel of Eleanor Rigby
Summary: DISCONTINUED PM if you want to continue
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first fan fiction, so go easy on me (:. This is one of the short chapters, since we are just getting started off. I hope you like it and stick with it after this chapter if you find it boring. It'll get more interesting when the werewolves come in!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight since I can't write to save my life.**

I slipped on my ivory sweater and grabbed a hold of my carry-on. I had my journals, tons of pens and my IPOD stocked. That's all I needed for the long plane ride. I trudged down the stairs to meet my younger sister Meaghan by the door. She had a huge bag beside her that looked more like a suitcase than extra baggage.

I raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged. "I'll get bored." Her mid back blonde hair swung around as she turned towards the door. I took a last glance at our mom, passed out on the couch with beer bottles everywhere.

Meaghan nudged my shoulder. "Goodbye past." She whispered in my ear. I had a good hold on my luggage as I followed her out the door. As if someone was watching be from behind, I shook out my light brown hair from my ponytail to cover the slightly faded bruises covering the back of my neck. Her blue eyes sparkled with excitement as she loaded her suitcase into the back of the cab.

I did the same, slamming the trunk with a loud bang and climbing in the back seat. I took one last sorrowed look at our almost home, with our almost mother inside of it and smiled a genuine smile at my sister.

"Hello future."

I couldn't comprehend how happy I was to finally be leaving this place behind. To have a second chance at life, to actually _live._ Forgetting all the terrible nights in that house. The joy couldn't replace the fact that I was extremely nervous. My heart was thumping hard in my chest as the trees of Canadian forests whizzed by us.

Meaghan wordlessly took my hand and squeezed it tightly, not letting go. We had that special kind of bond where neither of us felt the need to speak to actually understand what was happening to the other person. I'd say she knew me better than anyone, even better than I knew myself sometimes.

She was a bit younger than me, almost two years. She had just turned 16 last month in May and my 18th birthday wasn't for another three months. But we always connected, not like most siblings. We had shared so many bad times together, there wasn't anytime for us to be bitter. So we just clicked, our hearts connected on a bonding experience.

It wasn't a cheerful bonding, but it was one. For her, I am forever grateful. She is my best friend in the whole world. I don't think I would have made it to this point without her.

Some people would tell me how extremely unlucky I was, they would pity me. I would tell them I didn't need their pity because God has blessed me with a angel that would help me live. I told them that I was one of the luckiest people in the world.

Most of them looked at me like I was crazy. Sometimes I really wonder.

Not many people who have been brutally beaten, emotionally scarred and haunted for eternity would call themselves lucky. My sister was one of them. She tried to be nonchalant about it every morning, but I could hear her every night, screaming for him to stop.

The worst part is knowing that I can't do anything to stop it. That kills me more than anyone could ever know.

When he _raped_ me, it was the most horrible, terrifying thing anyone could ever imagine. He threatened to kill me if I told and why wouldn't I believe him? He hadn't exactly made empty threats.

So I dealt with it as best as I could. I went through my life battered and broken both physically and emotionally. Meaghan knew something was wrong, she always did. But she didn't pry and for that I was grateful.

Until he tried to rape her. That was the last straw. I heard her muffled sobs and they sounded so broken and familiar. That's when I knew. I was so outraged, in a fit of fury. That was my best friend, my baby sister! So I took a bat and hit him as hard as I could. Blood spattered on the bat as he fell to the ground, but I could care less.

My sister needed me. She was all that mattered. Her pants were torn off, but there was no blood. He hadn't gotten to her. She was clean, innocent. I was forever thankful for that.

She called the cops and just like that, he was gone. I don't think I had ever been so relieved in my life.

Until our mother woke up. She had stumbled tiredly into the living room until she saw the cops. With our father. That's when she freaked out. She started screaming and throwing things everywhere. In all of my 17 years, I had never seen her so mad.

A doctor actually had to come and sedate her before she calmed down. Needless to say, she was in the hospital for a few days. We had gone to stay with our Grandmother during that time until she was diagnosed as fine.

Then they released her. I thought everything was going to be normal after that. So did Meaghan. Of course, we never had much luck so we were wrong. As usual, life kept on sucking for us.

Some days she was just out of control angry. She would throw things at us, give us death threats and call us things no daughter ever wants to hear be directed at her from her mother's mouth. Most of the time she was extremely drunk, to the point where she wouldn't notice us or she would pass out.

That's usually how we liked it.

"Ash, we're here." Meaghan was shaking me. I blinked rapidly in a daze. "You were totally spaced out on me the whole time!"

I grinned sheepishly. "Sorry." She shrugged and slugged me lightly on the shoulder. "Just watch it, one wrong move and I'll push you out the door of the plane." I teased.

She shook her head. "So you want to play hardball?"

"If I can take a crack at your head."

She was silent for a moment. "Touché" We both laughed as we rolled our suitcases through the gliding doors. We both stopped abruptly. The place was huge!

"Uh, Ashley?" I glanced at her, speechless. "I think I'm lost already."

"Me too sis, me too."

Eventually we made it to the check in with plenty of time to spare, thankfully. Meaghan collapsed into a blue chair by our terminal and sighed loudly. "I can't wait until we get to Aunt Sophie's and this is all over. I haven't had a good nights sleep in years!"

I murmured my agreements as I sat on the floor in front of her and leant back against her legs. Our father and Aunt Sophie had never been close but when she found out about what he did to us, she was murderous. Demanded that we come and stay with her as soon as possible.

We had no objections to that.

Meaghan lightly played around with my hair and I closed my eyes in content. I must have fallen asleep or spaced out again because a loud voice came over the speakers. "_Last call for anyone boarding the flight to Seattle Tacoma Airport." _

"We should probably get moving." I announced, gathering my carry-on.

She snorted. "No, lets just live here in this wonderful airport!"

"Oh shut it." I muttered. She laughed heartily as we boarded onto the plane. Conveniently, I was placed by the window and she was sitting right beside me. We chatted for a bit until the plane was done take off.

Then she dug through her giant bag searching for something to do. We had a few hours to kill time. I pulled out my IPOD, a notebook and ballpoint pen, turned up the music and let my mind flow as I just wrote.

An hour had passed and Meaghan was knocked out, sleeping soundly on my shoulder. I packed my things away and put my head against the window, watching the shapes of the slightly darkened clouds. My thoughts were jumbled as I drifted in and out of consciousness, never falling into the peaceful sleep that had taken over my sister.

The descending warning was aired over the speakers so I decided to wake up Sleeping Beauty. "Meaghan?" I shook her a little. No response. "Megs?" I nudged her and she jolted awake.

"What?" She replied, flushed and dazed. I laughed at her and she frowned.

"We're landing soon, put your shit away." I told her, still laughing. She obeyed and we buckled in for landing.

We had to switch planes and got on a smaller one for our one hour trip from Seattle to a small airport in Port Angeles. The ride was just as quiet, but a lot more stressful. Meaghan was perfectly at ease while my hands were breaking out into a nervous sweat.

We barely knew these people and now we were going to live with them?! I gasped in a breath and wiped my sweaty palm on my jeans.

"Don't be nervous." Meaghan whispered. "They'll love us. How could they not?" She winked at me and I grinned a little, despite my current state. She always knew what to say to make everything better. The plane came to a rough and rocky landing as we pulled to a stop on the runway.

We stepped off the plane and automatically linked hands as we went to grab our luggage or meet our greeters. Whichever we came in contact with first. Apparently, it was the greeters.

"Meaghan, Ashley! Over here!" Someone called out. We followed the voice to find a woman staring back at us, smiling. She started gushing over us. "Look at you guys! All grown up, I missed you!" She hugged us and turned around, heading back somewhere.

We both laughed and followed her. My eyes nearly bulged out of my head as I set eyes on a very large Native American man. He had both of our suitcases in hand and was walking over to us, Sophie in tow.

"This is my son Embry." She introduced us. "Ashley, Meaghan." I took a small step back in fear.

Then he grinned. "Hey guys!" Before I knew it, I was crushed into a giant bear hug with my feet off the ground. He had to be a whole foot taller then me. Meaghan was swept into the same hug.

She swayed a little as he dropped her abruptly, grabbed our suitcases and turned to leave with Sophie. "Come girls, don't be shy!"

We started walking forward and I leaned over to whisper in her ear. "You know, he's pretty cute."

She snorted. "He's our cousin!" She made an over dramatic gagging noise and I shushed her.

"I'm just saying, I wonder if all the guys look like that around here." We exited the airport hand in hand to be met with a grey sky, rain pouring down on our heads.

She looked at me and smiled grimly. "Welcome to Washington." Then we trudged off to where Sophie and Embry were standing, finally ready to begin the new chapter in our lives.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Next chapter.**

The ride home was a lot better than I had expected. The rain let up about halfway through our drive so the sky wasn't as gray. I was still nervous, but not as much. I was quiet, keeping my eyes closed and my head against the window the whole ride.

Meaghan was leaning forward, chatting heartily with Embry. I could feel Sophie's gaze on me from the rear view mirror, but I didn't want to open my eyes.

"Ashley?" Someone whispered. I grumbled to them something incoherent and they laughed. "Ash, wake up!" A hand was shaking me on my shoulder. I slapped them away lazily, I just wanted to sleep.

"It's no use, she won't budge." Someone said to someone else.

"I'll take care of it." A deeper voice answered back. The door opened and suddenly, I was engulfed in heat. It was almost intolerable. My eyes flew open automatically. Embry was staring at me with a huge grin on his face as he carried me into the house.

My eyes narrowed. "Put me down, Embry Call!"

"No chance, little cousin." He replied, laughing.

"Hey, I'm two years older than you."

"But I'm taller than you."

"Only cause you're a freak!" I retorted. Deep laughter was heard from inside the house. "Whose that?" I whispered to him. He rolled his eyes.

"The intruders" He growled to me. I burrowed my brow in confusion. Two men were sitting on the couch. One was taller than Embry and one was the same size. They were laughing. That's when I realised I was in the middle of my Aunt's living room, being held by a giant freak.

"Can you put me down now?" I asked. He set me on my feet and I stumbled a little. The smaller boy stood up and clapped Embry on the back.

"Whose the girl?" He said, waggling his eyebrows. "She's cute." Embry and I both made gagging noises.

"THAT'S MY COUSIN!" We said in unison. "Gross Quil." Embry added.

Quil put an arm around me. "So she's single? Hey pretty lady." He winked at me. Meaghan walked through the door and started laughing.

"Hey, stop hitting on my sister or I'll kick you in your nuts." She threatened teasingly. For some reason, all of the boys thought that was extremely funny and burst out in guffaws.

We exchanged weird glances with each other. The one boy on the couch stood up. "We wouldn't want you to get hurt or anything." He explained.

I'm pretty sure we were both thinking the same thing. Wow, these Quileute boys are nuts! I suddenly felt seriously awkward and small, standing in a room with three oversized men. Meaghan had placed herself in one of the armchairs, making herself completely at home, talking with them. So I slipped off into the kitchen, hoping no one had noticed.

Sophie was bustling around, mumbling to herself. She looked up and jumped when she noticed me. "Oh, you startled me!" I smiled sheepishly and leant back against the counter.

"Crap, we don't have.." She trailed off. Meaghan walked through the kitchen, with both of our suitcases.

"Where should we unpack?" She asked. Sophie looked up.

"Come with me." She said, starting up the stairs. "Embry! Say goodbye to the boys and do me a favour? Can you pick up some things at the store? The list is on the counter." He grunted at her in response which I'm taking was a yes, because she didn't push the issue.

"Hey Embry, mind if I come with you?" I asked as he entered the kitchen. The door slammed from the front room. "So I can see the town and stuff?" He snatched up the list and grinned.

"Follow me. It's not far so we just have to walk, I'll show you around." I grabbed my light rain jacket that I had left on the couch and slipped it on. "Ready?" He asked.

I glanced at him. He wasn't wearing anything but a short sleeve black shirt. "Won't you get cold?" I inquired. He shook his head. "Figures." I muttered under my breath. "With that fever you're always running." He grinned at me and walked out the door.

I followed him clumsily. Obviously La Push was safe, because no one seemed to lock their doors. Mud from the puddles that had littered around the streets from the constant rain splashed up on my Converse. I grumbled in my head as Embry gave me the town tour.

"And this," He announced. "Is the grocery store. Or market, I guess. It is pretty small." I stared at the small building in front of me. La Push was nothing like Canada whatsoever. This place gave me a funny vibe and it really scared me. I walked silently beside Embry as he gathered whatever he needed.

"Could you get me a can of peas? It's right down that isle." He pointed to the third isle from the left. I nodded obediently and trailed down the isle. I stepped sideways as I searched for them. _Corn, soup, ah peas!_ I went to grab a can when my knee smashed into the front of a cart. It brushed a recently made gash and I winced.

"Ow, OW!" I cried clutching my knee.

"I am so sorry! Are you okay?" The husky voice from behind the cart sounded worried. I turned to look at him and smile reassuringly. I gasped when I looked at his face. He was just as tall as all the other men around, but there was something about him that made me think he wasn't much older then my sister. He had boyish dimples on his face. But he wasn't looking at me, he was looking down the isle.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." I told him, hoping that he'd look at me. I got my wish and the weirdest thing happened. When he locked eyes with me, his whole body went rigid and he tumbled backwards, right into the shelf and proceeded in knocking it over. I gasped in horror. "Are you alright?!"

He didn't look hurt but he was dazed. Plus, he was still staring at me with this intense look on his face. He slowly started to get up, never taking his eyes off my face. Another man came from the opposite end of the isle, and he was even bigger than all the other Quileute's that I had seen.

"Seth, what is going on?" He asked, staring at the boy and the toppled shelf. He turned to stare at the tall man, his face bewildered. I'm sure I looked like a complete idiot just standing there, half crouched to help the giant boy off the floor.

So his name was Seth. It sort of suited his boyish looks. Both their gazes flickered back to me and the taller man's face was knowing. "Let's go." He told the boy on the floor. He didn't budge. The older man sighed. "Now Seth!"

He got off the floor almost immediately, as Embry walked around the corner. He took one look at the scene and another at Seth's face. Then he groaned. "Not my cousin Seth!" He sounded angry.

"Um." I spoke up. All eyes flickered to me. "What the hell is going on?!"

Embry grabbed my arm. "Nothing Ashley. I have everything we need, lets go home." I heard Seth whisper my name under his breath and my eyebrows knitted together.

"We'll talk about this tonight Seth, Embry." The taller one said. Embry nodded and turned without another word, dragging me with him. Seth looked horrified at the fact of me leaving, but followed the bigger man never the less.

Embry was silent the whole walk home. I didn't want to pry, he looked murderous. So I tightened my rain jacket and kept my arms wrapped around my torso. He slammed the door of his house shut and stormed into the kitchen. Sophie came downstairs and as soon as she made eye contact with me, she turned wary.

"You should help your sister unpack." She suggested. Well it sounded like a suggestion, but there was a threatening undertone.

I nodded mutely and thundered up the stairs. As soon as I reached the top, I could hear Embry yelling. I could only make out a few things. It sounded like my Aunt said, "It's not something anyone could control." But then they stopped talking as if they knew I was listening, so I bustled away to my room.

Meaghan was sitting on the floor in the middle of a big pile of clothes, sorting them. She looked up when I entered the room and grinned. "How was your trip to the market?" She asked.

I pondered that for a minute, lips pursed. "Weird." I finally decided. She stared at me but I ignored it and starting sorting my own clothes. "These Quileute's are strange people."

"What do you mean?" She asked, throwing a pink shirt at my head. I tossed it to the side.

"We'll this one boy accidentally ran into me with his cart and then when I looked at him, he fell into a shelf.." I started. "Then this tall guy comes over and he looks at me with this look that says, 'I know something you don't know.' It was really creepy!"

She looked thoughtful. "Maybe he was so blown away by your hotness that it made him fall over?" She suggested, half joking.

I laughed. "I don't know. Cause then Embry comes and he starts freaking out, like 'Not my cousin!' or something odd. But I'm standing there dumbfounded and no one even clues me in!" I shook my head. "I think they're hiding something."

She nudged my shoulder. "You think?" She asked sarcastically. "I know, it's freaking me out too. Those boys from earlier, Jared and Quil I think, they were nice and everything. But when we were talking, it was like I was missing something."

"I thought Embry was a freak because he was tall, I didn't know he was just an all around weirdo." I laughed.

"But they are nice." She added, before she became deep in thought. "Then again, that's what all the mental patient victims think before they die."

I guffawed. "You need to stop watching lame horror movies."

"They fascinate me." She retorted, sticking out her tongue.

"Real mature, kid." I punched her in the shoulder and she threw her bra at me, landing it on my head. "Oh what I always dreamed off, it's raining bras!"

She laughed and we finished putting our clothes away, just in time for Sophie to knock on the door. "Dinnertime girls!"

We got up and headed downstairs into the kitchen. The two boys from earlier were sitting at the table, gorging down more food than I thought humanly possible. They looked up and Quil grinned as best as he could with food shoved in his mouth. "Hwy luddhms." He muffled out.

I laughed as I grabbed my plate. "Chew, swallow and then talk Quil." I teased. "Didn't your mother teach you any manners?"

He nodded and swallowed. "I just have a poor memory." He said, grinning cryptically. Jared started laughing as well as Embry. Even Sophie let out a chuckle.

That's when I got frustrated. They were keeping something from us and I was going to find out. "I'm not hungry anymore." I spat out between clenched teeth. I got up from the table and stormed upstairs. Soft footsteps padded up the stairs after me.

Meaghan came into the room with her plate filled with food and offered me some. I took it without hesitation, I was actually starving.

"They're keeping something from us." She whispered. "I know you don't like when people hide stuff, so I followed you."

I nodded. "Obviously we aren't going to find out from them, so we're going to have to do this on our own."

"But how? Who would tell us that we know?"

I thought of the boy from the grocery store and smiled. "I think I know."

She stared at me. "You remember the boy I told you about, the one from the grocery store?" She nodded. "I think that I can get him to spill it. There's just some kind of draw between us, you know?"

She thought for a second. "Not really, no." I laughed. "But how will we find him? You don't even know his last name."

"I don't think there's very many giant boys around here with the name Seth."

Her eyes widened. "He's super giant too?" I nodded vigorously. "Jeez, what is it with these kids and putting steroids in their cereal?"

I started laughing until I saw the ridiculously serious look on her face. Her eyes were troubled. "I'm sort of freaked out. This is like a horror movie waiting to happen!"

I rolled my eyes. Again with the scary movies! "Don't be so paranoid, it's probably not that huge."

There was a sharp knock at the door and it opened. "Hey girls." Embry stepped in. "We're going down to Emily's for a bit, you want to meet the gang?" There was something odd about his tone when he said gang, but I agreed.

He left and we got our coats together. "It's a mob! Their going to kill us tonight!" Meaghan panicked. I shook my head and laughed. Sometimes I wonder if we're actually related.

"Lets go." We followed Quil, Jared and Embry out into the rain. It got colder at night and I was shivering. Embry looked back at me and frowned.

"It's cold out." He announced, pulling me into his side. He tried to do the same to Meaghan, but she protested.

"I'm fine-e." Her teeth chattered on the last word. Eventually he guilted her into it and tucked her under his other arm. He had so much heat radiating off him that I was automatically warm.

"Do you have like an automatic furnace built into you?" I wondered aloud.

"No, I'm just really hot." He chuckled. Meaghan snorted from his other side.

"Modest much?" She asked and I laughed.

"I think he meant temperature Megs." She rolled her eyes and muttered a whatever under her breath. We all heard it and grinned to each other.

We stopped in front of a small white house with a wooden porch. "Welcome to Emily's." Jared announced. "This is practically our home."

"You only go there for the food." Quil jabbed.

"She's a good cook, what can I say?" Jared admitted with no trace of guilt. I was a little reluctant to go in there, sort of scared. I didn't know anyone here really. Embry tugged me forward with his arm on the small of my back. The force was oddly strong and it made me move.

Quil barged through the door without knocking. "We brought Embry! Along with his smoking hot cousins." He winked at us and I flushed with embarrassment while Meaghan laughed. We stripped ourselves of our wet rain jackets and entered the kitchen.

A beautiful woman came up to us, smiling warmly. "Welcome girls! It's nice to have more, the boys are always overpowering us." There was a smash from the other room. "Collin, did you break another vase?!" She turned to leave and we caught sight of the left side of her face.

Three thick red scars covered her face, down her neck and into her sleeve. I looked away quickly, not wanting to stare. When I glanced up, Meaghan was nowhere to be found. "Crap." I muttered. I went into the kitchen and ran into a tall guy by accident.

I looked up and noticed it was the bossy guy from the market. "Sorry," I mumbled, a bit intimidated. He nodded and looked behind me.

"You know where Embry is?" He asked, his voice husky. I pointed downstairs and he gave me his first smile. "Thanks."

"Yeah," I murmured after him. Someone came up behind me and I nearly jumped.

"Don't be intimidated of him, it goes right to his head." The mysterious person whispered in my ear. I turned around, startled and came face to face with Seth. He was grinning at me lazily but his eyes held that same intense look as before.

"Oh, you nearly made me have a heart attack." I gasped. His face turned stony serious and his eyes roamed my face. I suddenly felt very self-conscious. "What?"

"Are you feeling okay now? Not dizzy or in any pain?" He asked frantically. I started laughing, I couldn't help it! "Why are you laughing?!"

"Seth, it's just an expression."

He visibly relaxed. "Oh, thank God." He smiled at me. "Why don't I introduce you to everyone?"

His smile was very infectious. "Sure."

He led me into the living room where a very dejected looking Quil and another super tall boy were heading out the door. "You know Quil," Seth said. "But that's Jacob Black."

"Hey," Jacob greeted, smiling slightly. But there was so much pain in his eyes that my heart tugged for him. I studied him carefully and he was watching me. "What are you doing..?" He asked warily.

I frowned. "You just look so sad. I'm sorry, I'm freaking you out aren't I?" He nodded but smiled a genuinely real smile.

"Thanks for the concern." He turned to leave and he as he exited out the door behind Quil, he shouted back, "You aren't _that _big of a freak." I laughed heartily before following Seth down to the basement.

"This is Paul." He pointed to a scary looking boy in the back. He waved at me and smiled, so I decided he wasn't that scary. "Kim, Jared's imp-girlfriend." She jumped up and gave me a huge hug. I smiled at her before walking back to Seth.

"Collin and Brady, the youngest." He pointed at two smaller but still tall boys in the back. I looked around and saw Meaghan talking to a tall, pretty girl. He dragged me over. "This is my sister Leah and.." He looked at my sister puzzled. "I don't know her?"

I grinned. "That's my sister, Meaghan." I turned to Leah, who looked pretty friendly when she was talking to my sister. "Hi, I'm Ashley." I stuck out my hand.

She glared at me, shooting me icy lasers out of her eyes. "I know who you are." Her voice was like ice. I glanced at Seth, whose face was pained. The whole room went silent.

What had I done wrong?

**A/N: Hope you liked it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: A shorter chapter, but they'll get longer.**

Leah was still glaring at me. If looks could kill, I wouldn't be six feet under, I would be nine. I stared back at her, not backing down. I didn't want to seem like a little wimp. I did nothing wrong to this girl, I don't understand what her problem is.

Everyone was deathly silent around us. If I couldn't feel their gazes boring into my back, It would have felt like we were alone. "Why don't you go back home?" She asked me venomously. "We don't need another one of _you."_

"Another one of me?" I spat back. "You don't know me, or what I'm like. Do you just start shit for no reason all the time?" I could tell Meaghan and Seth were debating on stepping in.

She laughed harshly. "I don't need to talk to you, to know exactly who you are." Her arms were crossed tightly against her chest, her arms were shaking slightly. "We all know why you came back. It's no wonder your mom's a drunk, having you as a kid."

I finally snapped. She had no right to say that, and obviously Seth agreed with me. "Butt out, Leah. Why do have to make everyone else miserable all the time?!"

Both of them were shaking now. "If it was anyone else, you wouldn't give a shit!" She screamed at him. Sam had come up and put a hand on Seth's shoulder, as if he was holding him back. I wiped the back of my hand on my cheek when I realised I was crying. I had made them fight, I'm a horrible person.

I turned around and ran up the stairs. Past Emily who was bustling around in the kitchen, oblivious to everything downstairs. The front door slammed behind me as I bolted into the rain without my jacket. It was cold, wet and dark. I had no idea where I was going. But I just ran.

Straight into the forest across from Emily's. It was dark and I couldn't see anything. I just kept running until I tripped on a root and fell, panting. Maybe Leah was right, maybe it was all my fault that our father never loved us. Maybe it's because of me that my mom was so bitter.

Maybe I should never have come here.

I stiffened when I heard the broken howl of something in the distance. A bear? Whatever it was terrified me and had me wishing I was out of here. But I couldn't see anything, I had no idea where I'd came from. So I started crying and sobbing into my knees which were now curled up to my chest.

I hated La Push, I wanted to go home. I want to go back to when I was seven and Meaghan was five. When our dad actually loved us, loved mom. When we were a family, whole and not broken. I want to be curled up in my bed while my dad reads me bedtimes stories. I want to have picnics in the park and play in the sandbox with my baby sister.

I want my life back. Not this life, one full of secrets and lies, broken and battered. The one where I was happy. When I was actually, truly happy. The one time when I knew what love really was. When I knew how to love.

"Ashley?" Someone called out. I lifted my head off my knees and came face to face with Seth in nothing but sweatpants. I couldn't help but gawk at his lean chest as he sat beside me on the muddy ground.

"You-our going to get all-ll wet." I hiccupped.

"I'm wet already, Ash." He smiled. I sniffled into my knees. "What's the matter?" He asked gently. I peeked at his face from the corner of my eye. His eyes were shining with concern for me. He had fought against his sister for me.

"Why do you care about me so much?" I blurted out. His eyes widened just a little and his smile faltered.

"Embry is like family. So that means you are family, technically." He explained. "I always take care of my family."

"Leah's your sister." I objected.

"True, but Leah is also a world class bitch." I giggled. "She's miserable, so everyone else has to be too. That's usually how she likes it."

"But she was fine with everyone else, especially my sister. It seemed like I was the only one there who incurred her wrath." I told him. It was true, Leah was at ease with everyone. She even seemed nice until I talked to her.

Seth shrugged but I could see it in his eyes. He was lying to me, just like everyone else. I huffed impatiently and turned away from him, shivering. "Where's your jacket?" He asked me.

"Where's your shirt?" I retorted.

"You didn't answer my question."

"You didn't answer mine."

"I asked first." He said stubbornly.

"Well I asked second."

"First beats second always."

"No, it's first the worst and second the best. So there!" I stuck out my tongue to prove a point. He started laughing.

"You know, your quite childish for someone older than me." He commented nonchalantly. My eyes widened at his massive frame. He was _younger _than me?!

"Wait, how old are you then?" I asked incredulously.

"Sixteen."

I coughed. "Wow, I would never have guessed. Well, except for the dimples but that's only when you smile. Which is way too often, just to let you know." This time he stuck his tongue out at me. "And you think I'm childish."

"You are." He countered.

I rolled my eyes. "Can I ask you a question?" He nodded. "Why are we still sitting here on the ground?"

"That's a good question." He stood up and offered me his hand. I took it and he pulled me to my feet. "We looked everywhere for you."

"It was dark and I couldn't see. All I remember is just wanting to get away, so I kept running. Of course I got lost but that was inevitable. That's what I get for running into unknown territories." I was rambling out of nervousness. Why? Because he hadn't let go of my hand and we were now walking.

Not that I didn't like it. His hand was twice the size of mine and it was warm. It sort of made me feel safe, knowing he was beside me. We trudged along silently in the dark, but I could feel him watching me. When I spotted a huge group of people with flashlights, I noticed something.

"Hey Seth?" I looked up at him. "How did you find me without a flashlight?"

"I'm just that skilled." He replied, lying straight out of his teeth.

"Whatever." I muttered.

We neared closer to the group, standing in the rain with their hoods up. Sam acknowledged us first. "There you are Seth, what took you so long?"

He laughed. "I had extra baggage." He replied, holding up my hand. Sam breathed out a huge relieved sigh.

"Seth found her!" He called back to everyone and suddenly I was being ambushed. Embry had crushed me into his arms and was spinning me around. His warm body was soothing to my freezing one. I felt like I had just been in a bath of ice water.

"Jeez Ashley, you're freezing!" He complained.

I rolled my eyes. "Just put me down, you big heated freak." He ruffled my soaked hair and I frowned.

"It looks like you just rolled out of bed." Jared piped in.

I frowned at them. "Okay, I know I look like a drowned rat but let's save the jokes for later please. I'm freezing my ass off here!" Seth's arms constricted around me and pulled me into his chest. I huddled into him to keep warm or else I was going to get frostbite or pneumonia or something like that. We started walking, which was a little awkward in my position but I managed.

"Where are all the girls?" I wondered.

"Emily's." Everyone answered at once. It was sort of creepy.

The door swung open and Meaghan came running out in a short sleeve shirt and no shoes. Suddenly, I was angry at her. I don't know why but every little bit of my fury was directed at her. She tried to hug me and I ducked in to Seth's chest. "You'll catch a cold." I mumbled to her, still feeling obligated to look after her.

"That doesn't matter, I'm glad you're okay." She said.

"No thanks to you." I snapped. "It's all your fault, Meaghan. If I hadn't had to spend my life taking care of you, I would have been fine! Dad wouldn't have hated me like he did and mom would have loved me." Tears ran down my face.

"I never asked you to take care of me!" She screeched.

"If I didn't, you would have been dead. I was so much stronger than you in so many ways. I took your beatings, Meaghan. I got it twice as hard because I knew you couldn't handle it." I closed my eyes. "It's your fault that I'm like this. It's all your fault that everyone hates me!"

Seth tightened his grip on me. "You need to calm down."

I ignored him. "You can thank me. Do you want to know how I knew he was trying to rape you?" Her eyes were wide with fear. "Well if you didn't, I'm going to tell you anyway. Because he did it to me. Every single night he would sneak into my room. But you, you were oblivious to the things that happened to me."

Seth's grip had loosened in shock. So I wiggled out of it. "Do you know why you were so oblivious?" I whispered menacingly as I inched towards her. "Because I'm so good at hiding things from you. You think you have me all figured out, well no one does. I'm useless, I'm broken. That's why Mom hated us and that's why it's your fault."

My hands gripped her shoulders. "All. Your. Fault." My hands inched towards her neck and grasped it tight. "Because of you, I am a failure." Her face was going red, I was going to kill her.

But my eyes were hazy, it wasn't me anymore. All my hatred has built up into something terrible that I couldn't control. Until I heard his pained voice. "Ashley, please!" He sounded so tortured that my grip slipped just enough for her to wiggle out and smack me in the nose.

I flew back into Seth who caught me easily and cradled me into his chest while I sobbed. He pulled me away and touched my face. "Your nose is bleeding."

I touched under it gently and sure enough, it was gushing. "Good." I muttered. "I deserve it." He shook his head.

"Lets get you to Emily, she'll clean you up and then I'll take you home." He said softly. "Embry, you'll take Meaghan right?"

He nodded and walked away with a hand on the small of her back. When she passed, I heard her broken voice. "I had no idea.."

I bit back a sob as Seth led me into the house, hand in hand. Emily was whistling happily in the kitchen while Sam watched her with pure adoration. When they saw me, their faces dropped to horror. "What happened to you?" Sam asked tightly as Emily rushed up to me and examined my face. Tears of shame dripped down my face as I looked at the ground, unable to admit what I had just done.

Seth answered for me. "I'll _tell_ you later." He emphasised. I rolled my eyes at the double meaning that I couldn't discover, but ignored it. I was too ashamed to do anything about it.

Emily sighed in relief. "It's not broken, just bleeding pretty bad. Grab me a dish towel Sam." He did so quickly and she tilted my head and pressed it against my nose. "Sit down, it'll be more comfortable."

I did so, mentally screaming at myself for accepting help. I was just like Leah. No, I was worse because I used manipulation AND violence to make myself feel better.

Then there was Seth. I didn't deserve him either, though I had no idea why he cared about me so much. But threatening and manipulation my own sister was just the lowest of sins. I felt like such a horrible person at the moment that I just wanted to run away and never come back.

But then Seth walked in the room and gave me one of those infectious dimpled smiles. Then I knew, no matter how much I wanted to, I could never leave Seth. I don't know why, but it scares me.

A lot.

**A/N: Next update soon.**


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hope that was fast enough!

**Seth walked towards me, grinning his boyish grin. I couldn't help but gawk at him when he wasn't wearing a shirt like that. Unfortunately for me, he noticed. "It's not nice to stare." He teased me.**

"**Well I wouldn't have to, if you'd just put a damn shirt on." I retorted.**

"**You don't think I'm sexy with a shirt on?"**

"**I think you're sexy all the time, I'm just saying-" I cut off when I realised he was grinning at me widely. I almost slapped myself on the forehead, but I stopped myself just in time. I settled for doing it mentally. "W-what I meant is, um." I stammered.**

**He shook his head in amusement. "Poor girl never had a chance."**

**I rolled my eyes. "COUGH. Modest. COUGH!" He laughed and sat beside me. Then he took his hands and gently removed the cloth I still had held under my nose. He started examining it with his giant, warm hands. Then he grimaced.**

"**You're going to have a black eye for a few days, kid." He informed me. I groaned loudly on two accounts.**

"**One, why does everyone younger than me, always call me kid?!" I glared at him and he shrugged innocently. "Two, great. That's just the cherry on top of my day." I pouted slightly. He cast an arm over my shoulder casually and I flinched away from his touch."**

**He removed his arm immediately. "Sorry." He murmured, staring intently into my eyes. What is up with these Quileute's and their creepy stares?! I didn't response and the air around us spelled out awkward in so many ways.**

"**You and your sister look so different from each other." He finally said. **

"**I look more like my Dad, she takes after our Mom." I said casually, flinching on the inside. His eyes appraised me up and down.**

"**Your dad is related to Sophie, right?" I nodded. "That's weird. Sophie isn't Quileute. But you look more like you're from here than the Makah Rez." **

**He lightly touched my hair and I blushed. "Except these." He murmured.**

"**I got my hair from my mothers side of the family, eyes too." I furrowed my brow. Now that I think about it, Meaghan looked a lot more than my Mom and Dad mixed together. I didn't really resemble him at all. I'm not saying that was disappointing, but it was strange. I let it slide.**

**I was lost in thought when Seth stood up. "I should take you home."**

"**Can you even drive?" I asked.**

**He rolled his eyes. "I'm sixteen, Ashley. Not six."**

"**You act like your six." I mumbled. He stuck his tongue out at me. "Point made."**

**He grabbed my hand and pulled me off the couch. "Just get in the car, before I call animal control."**

"**If anyone needs to be taken away by animal control, it's you." I spat back. He froze for a second before immediately bursting out into wild laughter.**

"**Too funny." He muttered, wiping tears of hysteria from under his eyes. I sighed, only Seth. I jumped in the truck that he took me to, looking around in it.**

**I realised it was Sam's. "You should really buy your own car."**

"**It makes life so much easier just to steal Sam's." He smiled wryly. "Besides, I prefer to run." He had this weird look in his eye. **_**Looks like Embry isn't the only freak around here..**_** I turned away to stare out the window. It was dark but the rain had died down and the sky had cleared up. You could see the stars twinkling.**

"**Wow." I breathed out. He turned to look at me.**

"**Hmm?" **

"**The stars. I've never seen them like this before. They're so beautiful, so pure. It's like magic." I marvelled.**

**He shook his head. "I can't really appreciate the beauty of stars anymore. Not after I've seen something so much more beautiful. They just can't compare anymore, it's a lost competition."**

**I nodded absently, still gazing up at the sky. I could just see out my window, lit up by the moon and the stars. I closed my eyes and started humming something random. I felt so peaceful at that very moment, so lost in my own world. I forgot about the mess I had just made and let my mind wander.**

**The worn out tires of Sam's black truck crunched over the gravel of the road as Seth gracefully- well as graceful as an awkwardly tall sixteen year old boy can get- hopped out and opened my door. I smiled at him, avoiding his hand as he held it out for me to take. "Thanks for driving me home, after all the trouble I caused." I murmured.**

**His eyes burned with emotion. "I would have done it even if you had massacred everyone in Forks." His voice was so sincere that I started to feel awkward.**

**I raised an eyebrow at him and just stared. That was the creepiest thing I have ever heard. I was about to turn and run for my life, when he started laughing.**

**My eyes narrowed at him.**

"**Oh-oh. Ashley I'm sah-sorry. Your face was just, HAH!" He bent over and clutched his stomach in laughter. I slapped him lightly on the head, afraid to hurt myself.**

"**You are SO immature Seth!" I whined as I turned around and stormed up the driveway. I could still hear him laughing as the truck squealed down the driveway. I turned into the living room and grumbled to myself until I caught sight of Embry, spread out on the couch and watching T.V.**

"**Hey Embry?" I asked nervously. He glanced up and smiled, sitting so I could have room. I placed myself beside him awkwardly. "Can I ask you a question?"**

**He muted the channel and turned to me. "What's up?"**

**I sucked in a breath. "I wanted to know, what was up with Seth." I gave him a wary glance. His smile and body were still relaxed but his eyes were tight, guarded. He was definitely apart of the lies.**

"**What do you mean?" He inquired innocently. My eyes narrowed on their own accord.**

**I cupped my neck with my hands and titled it backwards. "He's just so, infatuated with me. Are all boys like that here?" I closed my eyes. "It's just a little bit freaky." I heard him sigh deeply and shift to look at me.**

**I opened my eyes again and rolled my neck to look at him. "Look, there are a few things that I can't tell you." He started slowly. I frowned and glared. I knew they were hiding something! "But I'll tell you something about Seth. He really cares about you." With that, he turned off the T.V and kissed my cheek. "Have a good night."**

**He walked up the stairs and disappeared while I sat unmoving with my mouth hung open. How DARE he walk away when I was talking to him?! Stupid La Push people and their stupid ignorance and rudeness and secrets.**

**I folded my arms and debated on whether or not I should go banging on his door and yell at him or just go to bed. I settled on the second one, I didn't want to be called out as some psycho freak by my own cousin. I quietly entered the room because the light was flickered off. Meaghan was passed out on top of the covers, wearing a huge black hooded sweater that I think was Embry's. Her eyes were puffy and red, tears stained her cheek and my heart stabbed with guilt a few times.**

**I shut the door quietly and slipped over to her bed, kissing her on the cheek. "I love you." I whispered and then I slid into my own covers without changing or anything. I never realised how long a day it had actually been and as soon as I closed my eyes, I drifted off into blackness.**

**------**

**I woke up because of the fact that random items were being thrown at my head. I sat up groggily and groaned. "What the hell are you doing, Meaghan?!" She turned around and grinned at me.**

"**It's sunny out! Hot too! Embry wants us to go to the beach and I am in charge of getting you up." She threw another random article of clothing at me. "Up, up! Rise and shine my darling."**

**I rolled over and stood up. "I'm up." My throat was raspy and dry from sleep. "I'm getting some water." She nodded, distracted by all the clothes she was looking at. I yawned hugely as I stumbled down the stairs, my hair carelessly thrown in a ponytail. I was still wearing my white sweater from yesterday and a pair of ripped jeans, though they were messed up a bit. My face was tired looking and I had no makeup on.**

**I walked into the kitchen and came face to face with three huge boys standing around shirtless with towels in their hands. Kim was sitting in a chair, absent to Jared's odd staring. Or maybe she was just used to it. Whatever the case, it was still creepy.**

**Then I realised Seth was one of those boys and I flushed with embarrassment. A natural reaction, but I'm not really sure why. I covered my face with my hands as I went to grab a cup. **

"**Well," Jared nudged me. "Look what the cat dragged in this morning." I rubbed my eyes and smacked his arm.**

"**Shut it Jared, I'm not in the mood." I grumbled. I decided to ditch the water thing and make some coffee. As I was making it, everyone fell into their usual chatter. Seth came and stood beside me, propping his elbows on my counter.**

"**It's like twelve noon, how are you tired?" He teased. I yawned again, stretching my arms up.**

"**Yesterday was a long day, thank you very much." I informed him. "You didn't get me back till like midnight."**

**He chuckled. "I'm not the one who went running into the woods." I glared at him and punched him in the arm.**

**I actually braced myself for it to hurt, but I just felt a small pressure. Instead, Seth winced and grabbed his arm, staring at me incredulously.**

"**D-did I actually hurt you?" I stuttered, in shock. His eyes widened and he nodded. A surge of pride washed through me until Seth broke into a smile.**

**I glared at him. "Are you KIDDING ME?!"**

**He laughed. "It was just too easy Ash. I thought you would have figured it out from last night." I sighed heavily and took a long sip of my newly made coffee.**

"**Be glad I have coffee right now, it makes everything seem so much less worse for me." I threatened. Meaghan came downstairs and pointed at me.**

"**You need to get dressed. Lets go, we are wasting precious sun!" With that, she disappeared and everyone started laughing. I guess I shouldn't offer her any caffeine. **

**I made my way upstairs slowly, trying to finish my drink. She was standing in front of my bed. "Purple bathing suit or black?" She asked.**

"**Purple." I replied, sipping lightly." She tossed it at me along with matching flip flops, jean shorts and a tank top. She went to go change in the bathroom but I grabbed her arm. "We need to talk."**

**She smiled sadly. "Look, it was an accident okay? Last night, people said some inappropriate things and tempers were flared. It's over and done with and I forgive you." She freed her arm. "I love you too much to fight with you over something lame."**

"**The only reason I took your punishment is because I love you. Just to let you know that." I admitted as I went to the bathroom to do my hair and stuff so she could change in the bathroom. Finally, after much trouble with my tangled hair, I threw it into a ponytail and I was ready to go.**

**Everyone was waiting for me and I looked down, embarrassed. Meaghan grabbed my arm and practically dragged me with all her force out the door. "Lets go, lets go!" She cried, finally letting go and running down with her beach bag.**

**Seth leaned over. "Is she okay?" He asked worriedly.**

"**She just loves the sun." I laughed. He nodded understandingly. We had to cherish the sun we were given because there wasn't much. "Hey, where's everyone else?" I wondered.**

"**They're all going to meet us there."**

**I grimaced. "Even Leah?" His eyes softened and he nodded slightly. **

"**I'll protect you from the big bad sister." He teased lightly. I smiled weakly, my heart hammering in my chest. We walked down to a slightly clear part of the beach and all laid down towels. Meaghan was on my left, Seth on my right. By the time I had set up my towel, Jared and Kim were already splashing each other in the water and Meaghan was tanning. **

**I snorted lightly. She was so pasty and she never gets tans. Unlike my naturally dark skin. I frowned, maybe we were really different. Seth nudged my arm. "Want to swim?"**

**My eyes widened. "You can actually swim in the water here?" Back in Canada, all the water was polluted. He laughed at me.**

"**You don't swim in water back in Canada?" **

**I shook my head. "Pollution."**

"**Ew." His nose crinkled. "So, do you want to?" He smiled his heartbreaking smile and I nodded without hesitation. We joined them in the water and I was just floating on my back until I got a great idea.**

"**Meaghan, Embry!" I called to them because they were just sitting on the beach. "Get in the water, we're having chicken fights!" They both ran over. **

"**We play winner." Embry announced.**

**I looked up at Seth. "Hoist me up partner." He grinned and ducked under the water. When he came back up, I was lifted into the air from his shoulders. Kim and Jared did the same thing and we were ready.**

"**GO!" Meaghan screamed. Seth gripped my legs tightly as Kim and I pushed and pulled at each other. No one was giving up and going down, until I lost my guard.**

"**Oh here comes everyone else." Embry had pointed out. That was when I froze. What would Leah think of me on her brothers shoulders?! In that small hesitation, Kim gave me a huge shove and I went flying backwards into the water off of Seth's shoulders.**

"**Victory!" I heard her shout as I bubbled up from under the water. Seth grinned at me and I smiled back, even though I probably looked very gross. I brushed the hair out of my face with my hand as we trudged out of the water, hearing the yells of the four competing in the chicken fight.**

**The others had gathered by our spot and were lying blankets down. "Ashley!" Quil shouted joyfully, twirling me in a hug. I laughed merrily along with him.**

"**Hey." I breathed as he set me on the ground. Everyone else greeted me. Even Jacob, who was wearing a black hooded sweater with the hood up, staring at the ground and even Leah who actually wasn't glaring at me. She looked a little uncomfortable, like there was something on her mind. But if there was, she didn't say anything.**

**The other four were walking out of the water and Meaghan was dancing around in circles, cheering about her victory. Jacob was sort of walking slowly and looking at the ground. Both of them collided and Meaghan flew onto the sand.**

"**Ouch." she complained, brushing the sand off her knees. Jacob looked up from the ground and his hood fell off. His eyes were widened in horror. Until they locked with Meaghan's. With that, he didn't look away.**

**Suddenly Embry cried out, "Not again!"**

**Me and Meaghan looked at each other, completely confused. What the hell was wrong with these Quileute boys?!**

**A/N: Next chapter soon!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Longest chapter yet! Eight pages and over 4000 words.**

The air was tense as I travelled over to help her up, since Jacob obviously wasn't going to do anything about it. He wouldn't budge and I growled lowly. "Move, Black!" I was so fed up with all these mysterious secrets.

"Are you alright?" I asked, crouching beside her. She smiled at me.

"Just some access sand and a bruise to my ego." She laughed and stood up, brushing the sand off her bathing suit. I turned to the group who were all staring at Jacob with wide eyes.

"What are you all STARING AT?!" I screamed. Everyone's gazed flickered to me except Jacob who was staring at Meaghan with the SAME creeptastic stare that Seth or Jared or Sam had on their faces sometimes. "Stop keeping secrets from us."

Meaghan finally realised Jacob was eyeing here so she turned to him and wrinkled her eyebrows. "Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked, taking a half a step back. Jacob automatically stepped in sync with her, drawn to her like magnets.

"I don't know what you guys are keeping from us," She eyed Embry, Seth and Jacob pointedly. "But it has to stop. Now."

Everyone looked ashamed. "There are just some things that we can't tell you." Jacob stepped towards her again and she didn't move this time. "You just have to trust me. Can you do that?"

His eyes burned into hers and I watched her shake her head. "I don't know why, but I can" Then she frowned at me. I couldn't be mad at her or anything because I knew exactly what she meant. If Seth had asked me that I wouldn't have second guessed myself.

"Ashley." Embry started and I shook my head.

"I promise not to ask anymore questions." I smiled slightly. "Can we stop all the drama and have fun?" Everyone murmured agreements as we decided to play beach volleyball. Jacob had even taken off that depressing black sweater and decided to join us. We had picked sides fairly, trying to divvy everyone into even teams.

It ended up being Seth, Paul, Quil, Leah, Emily and I against Embry, Jared, Jacob, Sam, Meaghan and Kim.

Most of the time, Sam would miss the ball whenever Emily hit it towards him. Of course, Jacob didn't even need to lift a hand to spike it over the net. Once, I got it right in the head with such force that my vision went blurry.

That caused Seth, Embry and Jacob to get in a fight on the ground, just wrestling. It went from serious to joking and after, everyone shifted activities. Meaghan, Leah and Kim were laying on the towels, reading through a few magazines that we had brought. Sam and Emily had started walking up the beach, holding hands and just staring at each other.

Jacob, Seth, Embry, Quil Jared and Paul had started a game of three on three tackle football. I was just walking along the shore when I got bored. "Hey guys, can I play?" I asked the boys.

"Sure." Seth answered immediately. The others exchanged glances and shrugged. "You can be with Embry, Paul and I." I nodded and just stood somewhere randomly. They weren't following the rules of football, they had their own. Pass the ball to the right person and run for your life.

Seth had passed me the ball and I started running down the beach. I realised the boys were not running their fastest at ALL. They seemed to speed up, miss me by inches and then slow down again. I froze in the middle of the game and everyone skidded to a stop behind me.

"What's wrong?" Embry asked. I glared at him.

"You're not trying." I accused them. They looked around guiltily.

Seth grabbed my hand. "We don't want you to get hurt, that's all." I rolled my eyes but didn't move my hand.

"I can take you guys, lets do this. For real this time." I tugged his hand. "Oh and I'm switching teams." I lined up with Jacob up front as Seth mumbled something under his breath that caused Embry to start laughing.

"Hey, can I play?" Meaghan called as she ran towards us. Everyone shrugged and we finally got to the actual game. She threw the ball to Seth who was running straight beside me.

As he passed, I jumped on his back and clung tightly. "Hey, you little cheater. What do you think you're doing?" He laughed.

"Just trying to even the odds." I screamed as he kept running forward. Jacob stuck out his foot and tripped Seth suddenly and he went down with me on top of him. He flipped over and I sat straddling him on his waist.

"So Seth, how's it hanging?" I laughed, leaning my elbows on his chest.

"It's not." He mumbled. The boys started howling and Seth\s face was flushed with embarrassment as he stood up, taking me with him. He set me on my feet and smiled. "Now, lets try to play fair. Alright kiddies?"

I scoffed. "Whatever."

We played for what seemed like hours and the sun had started to set. I sat down beside Seth on my towel and pulled my tank top over my wet bathing suit as it started to get chilly. Surprisingly, it hadn't rained all day and the sunset was a glowing red instead of dusky.

"Hey Seth," I murmured. "You can see the stars again." We were both alone as Sam and Emily had just went home, Leah ditched halfway through the football game, Jared and Kim were walking along the edge of the beach, Embry, Quil and Paul were eating and Jacob and Meaghan had disappeared.

A loose strand of hair flew into my face from my ponytail and Seth reached out and tucked it behind my ear. His fingers had left a burning trail on my cheek bone and I looked at the ground. "Look at me." He whispered in my ear.

My heart was drumming out of my chest as I peeked between my lashes. His face was so close to mine that I could just lean forward a little and touch his perfect lips with mine..

Wow, where did that come from?!

"I have something to tell you." He said, coughing nervously. I smiled up at him.

"You can tell me anything."

He opened his mouth but the voice I heard did not belong to him. "Has anybody seen Jacob?!" Quil had yelled. Seth sighed in annoyance and my thrumming heart slowed just a bit.

"I'll go find him, Meaghan's missing too." I offered before standing up and walking away from a very angry Seth who was storming over to a too innocent looking Quil who was shoving a chip in his mouth. I started walking down the farther line of the beach, darting my eyes around. "Jacob?" I called out. "Megs?"

I heard a faint murmur of voices and I started heading towards them. "Hello?" I asked. I heard a soft giggle and knew it was Meaghan.

"Hey guys?" I asked, peeking behind the tree. My eyes widened as I watched Jacob's hand gently cup my loving sister's face. She was blushing madly, the red skin shining in the starlight.

"Can I do something?" He murmured to her lightly. She was watching him with awe and she smiled softly.

Her hand touched his forearm with her fingertips. "Sure." I was shocked, her voice was confident and clear. She knew what she was doing.

So he leaned in and pressed his forehead to hers. "Good." Then he pressed his lips to hers gently, closing his eyes. She stepped closer automatically in sync with his movements, putting her soul into this kiss. I nearly tripped over air as I watched my baby sister fall hard for Jacob Black. So I turned on my heel and started running back to where Seth was arguing with someone. Paul, I think?

"Seth!" I called his name, panting from my run. I jogged straight into his arms and he caught me into his chest. "If Jacob Black hurts my little sister, I will personally castrate him. Or I'll get you to do it."

He glanced down at me. "What are you talking about?" He inquired.

"She's falling for him." I announced sadly. "But I'm afraid he's going to hurt her."

He squeezed me tight. "Jake's a good guy, don't judge him too quick." But he looked a bit skeptical. It was officially dark outside right then and the wind blew hard around me. I shivered but Seth looked unfazed.

"It's freezing Seth!" I complained to his bare chest. I could feel the goose bumps rising up every bare inch of my skin. "I want to go in now, I'm tired as hell." Every bone in my arm and back cracked as I stretched upwards. The beach was empty now except for Seth, Embry and I. Maybe Jacob and Meaghan, but I had no idea if they had left or not. His warm hand grasped mine cautiously, waiting for me to object. I didn't. So he entwined our fingers and led me forward behind Embry's retreating back. "I didn't even notice everyone leave." I murmured to myself.

He surprised me by answering. "They just slinked off silently I guess." His boyish grin came back. "Sneaky bastards."

I stared up at the moonlight quietly as I fought to keep up with Seth's long strides. I wanted to hear his voice for some reason, but he seemed to be deep in thought and I really didn't want to disturb him. So I kept to myself and hummed under my breath. Off key, I may add. Seth cracked a small smile and glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

I immediately shut up. I'm not sure if he had heard my humming but I did not want to find out. When we got to Embry's, or my house too I guess, he stopped short at the porch and glanced at me with sad puppy eyes. I groaned loudly.

"Stop that." I complained, swatting his arm lightly with the hand that he hadn't claimed. He looked innocently at me but laughed. "Oh hey." I said, suddenly reminded of something from earlier. "What were you going to tell me earlier on the beach? You know, before Quil started yelling?" His hand absently tightened on mine.

His eyes glanced around frantically. "Oh um, nothing. Yeah, it's not important anymore." I cursed in my head, just when I thought I was getting somewhere!

The door opened. "Hey lovebirds," Embry called and I snatched my hand from Seth's. "It's late, get home Seth." I smiled, points to my cousin for saving an awkward moment.

I touched Seth's bare arm. "Night." I whispered and turned up my porch. As I went to open the door, I realised he hadn't given me a response. My heart droned slowly as I went to shut the door, but not before I heard something.

"Sweet dreams." He had murmured before he raced off. The sweet sound of his voice lingered in the air. I drifted past the kitchen.

Sophie poked her head out the doorway. "Goodnight Ashley." She said with a knowing tone in her voice.

I smiled at her and bit my tongue, trying to force down all the rude things I wanted to scream out and balled my hands up into fists so I didn't hit the wall or throw a vase at someone's head. "Night Aunt Sophie." I replied in a tone that was sugary sweet. Wary flashed onto her face before she composed it and smiled back.

A few choice words passed through my head that I would love to scream out at all these steroid using, freaking staring, puberty overload Quileute boys. But me, being the suck up I am, swallowed my hate and knocked lightly on Embry's door. "Don't let the bed bugs bite!" I called to him.

"I could take 'em." He mumbled back sleepily. I chuckled and shook my head. No matter how annoying he was keeping secrets from me, I still enjoyed having him as a cousin.

As I entered our room, my sweet sister was humming a love song under her breath as she slipped a camisole over her head. I sat on my bed and stared at her. She turned my way and jumped, grasping her chest. "I didn't even see you there." She gasped, shaking a laugh.

I put on my innocent façade. "Oh yes, you seemed pretty distracted there."

She played the doe eyed innocent look as well. "Oh really, did it seem that way? Yeah, I guess I have a lot on my mind today." She giggled a bit and looked back out of the corner of her eye when she thought I wasn't paying attention. I smirked.

"Yeah like, new people.." I droned and she nodded. "New place." She nodded again. "Oh and that FIREY HOT KISS YOU SHARED ON THE BEACH." I laughed, tackling her. We sat on the floor, trying to catch our breath. I smirked at her. "You should know that I see everything."

"I bet you were being nosey." She teased, jabbing my ribs. "But yeah, it was the most .. Oh I can't even describe it." Her smile was dreamlike. "It's the sort of toe curling, feel it in your gut, spine tingling, bone chilling kiss that you always dream about."

I nodded in dismissal more than understanding. Sure, I've been with a few guys and I'm not a virgin, but I've yet to experience the 'perfect kiss.' But then again, I haven't kissed Seth yet, and his lips are pretty damn fine and…

What am I saying?! I threw on my pyjamas and curled up under my covers. "Turn out the light!" I groaned. "I'm too tired to get up." She gave me a rude gesture and ignored me so I threw my extra pillow at her butt.

"Hey!" She squealed. I put on my best imitation of Seth's pleading face and she sighed.

"Fine." Wow, it actually worked! I should test these puppies out on him tomorrow. "Goodnight Ashley." She crooned.

I was suddenly afraid. "Night." I murmured warily. Soon, the feeling of anxiety passed as I drifted into slumber.

-----------

I woke up to the sound of giggling. The sun wasn't out today, no surprise. "Morning." I yawned groggily. I sat up and scratched my head. Meaghan was sitting on the edge of my bed, trying to keep a straight face but when I looked at her and raised an eyebrow, she laughed.

"Why, good morning." She chirped. I swung my legs out of bed and slid onto the floor. I threw up my hair into a messy ponytail and started to go downstairs for my usual morning pick me up. Coffee, what can I say, I'm addicted. But as I entered the kitchen, there was only two giant boys there today. One of Embry and the other was Seth.

Great, I should really learn to fix myself up before leaving my room. I blushed and looked at the floor, not wanting him to see me in my morning mess two days in a row. But they both noticed me of course. I sighed, busted. "Hey guys." I murmured, glancing up. They opened their mouths to say something, but all that came out was a squeak before Embry burst into hysterical laughter. Seth's eyes were wide and he looked, embarrassed? My brow furrowed. "Why are you laughing?" I asked.

Embry choked on his words because he was laughing so hard, he was clutching his stomach and leaning over. Seth looked at the floor and muttered, "Have you looked in a mirror this morning?"

I clutched my empty cup tighter, offended by the comment. Until I caught my reflection in the microwave. The cup slipped out of my hand and shattered over my bare feet. But I didn't really notice, because on my face in permanent marker were the words 'I LOVE SETH' in big capital letters. I screamed so loud and high that the sound shouldn't have been heard by humans.

Seth and Embry covered their ears and the soaring pain of glass cutting my feet flew up my legs suddenly. "OW!" I screamed, tears flowing out of my eyes. I noticed Seth's eyes flicker to my feet and then his hands started shaking. Not just trembling, but actually vibrating so fast it was almost a blur. I tried to step towards him but the glass crunched under my feet. "Seth?!" He looked away from me and at Embry with wide, wild eyes. Embry didn't looked concerned, it was like he seen this stuff every day.

"Outside Seth." He ordered and Seth immediately bolted out of his seat and through the front door. Meaghan thundered downstairs laughing, until she took in the scene in the kitchen.

"Oh shit." She murmured and I glared at her.

"You and I are going to have a little talk when I'm finished here." I growled, very frustrated. Mostly because Seth had left, but I'd never admit it.

She looked horrified, guilty. "I'm so sorry about the glass!"

I frowned. "The glass? Oh right, well the glass is one thing. But my FACE? Do you know how embarrassing that was, Meaghan? I am so humiliated!" I rambled on. A touch of a smile hit her face innocently. Embry scooped me up bridal style and started towards the living room.

"Towels Meaghan. Cupboard in the hall, and tweezers off the counter." He ordered and he laid me gently on the couch. "You alright?" He asked worriedly.

I shrugged. "It's no big deal Em, I heal fast anyway." I said, reaching over and plucking a small piece of the mug out of the top of my foot. He looked amazed at first but composed it as he bent over my feet and started plucking. There was a small collection of blue glass on the table by the time he was done and the blood was mostly gone and on the towel.

"I still want to wrap it." He murmured absently before he got up to get something. I closed my eyes while he was gone and started wondering where Seth had ran off too. It seemed like he was going to literally blow up in the kitchen.

I was suddenly alerted of another presence when the end of the couch made a slight dip and a scorching hot hand touched my foot lightly. My eyes flew open to find Seth looking slightly murderous and slightly terrified as he looked at my feet. "Your cuts are healing." He murmured.

Embry and Meaghan walked in then, holding gauzes. "Meaghan, patch this up? Seth and I need to talk alone." He threw a meaningful look at Seth and he scurried off in front of Embry. Meaghan was humming as she wrapped my feet in the bandages.

"This isn't really necessary." I groaned. She shook her head.

"It is, just because you heal fast doesn't mean they can't get infected." We stopped talking when we heard shouting from outside. I could make out the tones of their voices, just not what they were saying. "They do that a lot." Meaghan murmured.

I nodded in agreement but tried to change the subject. "I'm going to wash my face." I grumbled, limping upstairs. She started laughing behind me and I scowled. It took me ten freaking minutes to get that marker off my face. She couldn't have used washable. I stomped downstairs as best as I could to bitch at her until she put her finger up in front of her face. She had a phone attached to her ear.

"Hey Jake." She chirped, smiling. "What's up?" I heard a faint buzzing on the other end. "Oh, cool." She responded, smile faltering slightly but she picked it back up. "Hey are you busy today? I thought we could watch a movie or something." She bit her lip and crossed one of her fingers. "O-oh. You're busy? Okay, well tomorrow-?" She was frowning. "Oh no, that's fine. Okay, bye." She hung up the phone and frowned.

I sat beside her. "What's wrong?" I asked, gently cupping her hand. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"I thought he liked me." She murmured. "It didn't seem like it at all."

"He's probably nervous honey. He's a boy, they don't have very many brains." I joked, trying to make her feel better. She just sighed and laid her head in her hands. She lifted her head put it on my shoulder and I stroked her hair gently. Embry stormed through the door without his shirt on, flushed up.

"Embry, what happened to your shirt? And where's Seth?" I asked. He looked down at his chest as if he realised just now that he had lost his shirt.

"Shit um, I left it outside because it got wet?" He phrased it into a question. I nodded reluctantly, just wanting to punch him. "But Seth had to go home, he said he hoped you feel better."

"Hm, want to go on a walk?" I asked Meaghan who was sitting silently beside me. She nodded and we both pushed ourselves off the couch. "But I should really get changed." I murmured laughing. She agreed and I ran upstairs. Five minutes later I had thrown on my jeans, white sweater and shoes and we were ready to go. The rain had died out but it was still drizzling so we flipped up our hoods. We walked for a few minutes until we spotted a few large men up by the Ateara's convenience store. I squinted a little and realised it was Seth, Quil, Jacob and Sam. I frowned.

"I thought Seth was going home." I murmured at the same time that Meaghan said, "Jacob told me he was going to visit Charlie Swan with his father." They must have seen us coming because Jacob tried to bolt before Seth grabbed his arm and whispered something to him.

"Hey girls!" Quil called up to us. I waved back at them. Meaghan was glaring from below her hood, straight at Jacob's back. She looked furious, malicious. I grabbed her arm and squeezed it gently.

"Sam, Quil." I greeted. "Seth, Jacob." My voice took a menacing turn. Meaghan was looking at the ground. Seth came and stood beside me, grinning from ear to ear. I folded my arms and glared at him.

"What?" He asked innocently. I growled at him from clenched teeth.

"Embry said you went home and I find you here, with your friends. You just left." I don't know why, but I was mad! "And you," I spat at Jacob, who turned around slowly. "Lying straight out of your teeth isn't a great way to make friends. I hope you know that." He opened his mouth to say something when Meaghan interrupted.

"What happens to your plans, Jacob?" She asked sweetly. "Weren't you supposed to be in _Forks_?"

He looked at the ground, scuffing his right foot. "They got cancelled and stuff." He muttered.

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? But you didn't have the decency to call me and tell me that?"

His eyes glanced around to his friends, who had backed away. "I didn't have your number." He stuttered. She laughed once, it was bitter.

"I know for a fact you know Embry's number. But even if you didn't, I know I gave you my cell number. So why are you lying Jacob?" She asked, surprisingly calm. He ran a hand over his short hair and shrugged, turning and walking away swiftly. Meaghan stared as his back until he disappeared and then whipped her head towards me. "Can we keep walking?"

"Lets go." I murmured, stalking past Seth.

"Wait Ashley!" He called, jogging after me.

I turned on my heel. "I suggest you don't go any further because I'm not speaking to you right now." He skidded to a stop and his gaze bore into mine as I walked away hand in hand with Meaghan. "You alright?"

She looked up, a calm mask on her face. "Fine." She murmured. "Lets just take the long way and go home." We walked in silence back home where Meaghan went up and slammed her door shut. I didn't want to disturb her so I perched on the couch and watched a few reruns of I Love Lucy until the phone rang.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Ashley, it's Leah." I nearly dropped the phone. "You there?"

"Uh y-yeah. What's up?" My voice betrayed my emotion.

She laughed shortly. "Look I guess I owe you an apology. I never would have mentioned what I did the other night if I had known…" She trailed off. "But yeah, I wanted to know if you and Meaghan would come to a bonfire tomorrow night?"

I gaped at the open space, shook my head and scrounged up an answer. "Well yeah, I'll be there. I just have to ask Meaghan."

"Okay well, call me back I guess. Embry knows my number and stuff or you could just tell Seth."

"Seth and I are not speaking at the moment." He owed me a huge explanation for him and Jacob.

"Yeah I heard. Oh well, he probably deserved it. So I'll talk to you later?"

"Sure, sure."

"Alright, well bye then?"

"Bye." I hung up, stunned. I ran up the stairs and knocked on the door, opening it a bit. "Meaghan? Leah invited us to a bonfire tomorrow night, want to go?"

"Sure." She murmured, voice muffled. I shut the door and left her alone.

Tomorrow would be interesting.

**A/N: This was the last of my prewritten chapters so it might take a while for the next update.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Okay guys, I have some explaining to do. My laptop is a junk box and it shut down again. So I had to send it in, so I didn't have any of my files for a while. I just got it back, thank goodness for back up disks! So I'll be updating quickly to make up for it.**

During the rest of the day and the day after, I did a few things. One, had another awkward phone call with Leah, confirming our attendance to the bonfire. Two, blocked all Seth's calls on my cell phone and told Embry to tell him I wasn't speaking to him on the main line. Three, tried to convince Meaghan that Jacob just needed time and four, convinced her to come out of our room.

But now it was 6:30 and we were getting ready for the bonfire. It started at seven and we wanted to leave as soon as possible. I had on my black skinny jeans and light blue sweater and Meaghan had on a long sleeve white tee and blue jeans. I was just twisting my hair into a ponytail when there was a knock at the door. Leah was going to show us where it was since Embry had been at Quil's and was going to go with him.

"Coming!" I called down. I heard the door squeak and a few light footsteps.

"No need." She said back. I slipped on my shoes and ran downstairs, knocking on the bathroom door as I passed. I nearly tripped over my shoelace that I had forgotten to tie on my way downstairs but held onto the rail and balanced myself up. "You alright?" Leah asked, smirking from the bottom of the staircase. I realised she was in baggy shorts and a tight t-shirt.

I tightened my shoe and shook out my foot. "I'm fine." Meaghan came down the stairs, combing the bottoms of her hair with her fingers. "What are we doing at the bonfire anyway?" I wondered, no one had actually mentioned what anyone did at the meetings.

"Hang out, eat food of course and listen to the tribal legends." She said with a glint in her eye. I nodded, it actually sounded like fun. "Ready?" She asked.

We both nodded and followed her out the door. The wind was sort of chilly but nothing we couldn't handle. It got worse on the cliffs so I inconspicuously shuffled closer to Leah, the warmth of her skin was radiating everywhere. I then realised how tall she actually was. Shorter than Seth but still tall enough to make me seem like a shrimp. I had a feeling it would always be like that around here.

"We're here." Leah announced, snapping me out of my trans like state. She then went to sit on the stony ground in front of a huge wooden log. Almost everyone was there. Seth was standing at a food table with Embry and Quil, Jared and Kim were holding hands off to the side, Paul was helping Sam light the fire and Emily was sitting close to them on a different wooden log. I realised Jacob was the only one missing. Meaghan noticed that too and she instantly relaxed and sat beside Leah on the ground.

I smiled at Emily as I went to sit on the right side of her. She squeezed my hand and smiled back. "How are you Ashley?" She asked motherly and sweetly.

"I've been better." I murmured back. She rubbed my arm and looked at me sympathetically.

"Boy troubles eh?" She asked, nodded slightly to Seth. I nodded and she didn't say anything else.

It was getting dark when two figures finally appeared up the lift of the hill. Jacob had his arm around a petite brunette. My jaw dropped and my hands clenched into fists. Emily put her head in her hands and muttered, "Oh dear." But Meaghan looked murderous, more so than she did yesterday.

The girl under Jacob's arm looked shy as she shrunk back into his chest. He was looking at the ground in shame but still soothing her with his hand running up her arm. I pushed myself off the log and stormed over to him. He glanced up and back down just as quickly.

"Jacob." I spat angrily. "Whose your _friend?_"

"Ashley, this is Bella Swan. Bella, Ashley." He muttered.

She smiled at me gently and I gave a tight smile back. "Hi." I said curtly. She nodded back and I tugged her arm gently. "Hey, why don't you come sit with us girls. I'm sure Jacob has people to talk to." I shot him a glare and he backed away slowly.

"Uh yeah. I'll catch up with you in a second." He mumbled and darted off towards the boys at the food table. I grinned largely at her and she winced, short of shrinking back.

"Don't be shy." I crooned sweetly. I dragged her over to where Leah and Meaghan had joined Emily on the log. "I'm sure you know Emily and Leah," I started. Emily smiled as best as she could but Leah gave her a cold glare, a nod and looked back at the blazing fire. "This is my sister Meaghan."

Bella waved and Meaghan nodded once before rolling her eyes. I noticed a tear roll down her eye but she wiped it quickly. I sat beside Emily and Meaghan leant her head on my legs. "Don't be shy!" I chirped mockingly to Bella. "Have a seat." She sat down reluctantly, eyeing me.

"So," Meaghan asked. "Jacob's your boyfriend?" She shook her head quickly.

"He's my friend, best friend actually. I have a boyfriend." She murmured. Meaghan cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Well he's obviously in love with you, can't you see it?"

"Unfortunately. But there's nothing I can do about that I guess."

Meaghan laughed and snorted. "Oh _honey._ You need to stop leading him on and maybe you wouldn't have this problem. Maybe Jacob could move on if you left him alone."

She looked taken aback until she looked at the ground, arms wrapped around her chest. "You have no right to say that to me." She whispered. Meaghan stood up.

"Excuse me?" Suddenly, everyone had magically finished their tasks and were gathering around the fire. Coincidence, right?

"It's none of your business anyone." She shot back a little louder.

"Oh you have no idea how much this is my business." She retorted sarcastically. Embry came up behind Meaghan and put his hands on her shoulders. Jacob had a hold of Bella's arm who was now flushed with embarrassment and she had her eyes on the ground.

"Enough." Embry whispered. He pulled her to another log across the fire and she sat down, breathing through her nose. Bella had curled up to Jacob's chest on the opposite log and he was rubbing her back. I wanted to punch her or kick her or something. Then I realised her hand was in a blue brace and I smirked, she deserved it.

Sam had pulled Emily onto the ground across from us with Quil and Paul sitting on the log. Kim and Jared were on the same log as Jacob and Bella. Leah moved up from the ground to sit on my right and Seth had come and sat beside me. "I'm sorry." He murmured into my ear. I sighed, I couldn't stay mad at him. He hesitantly slipped an arm around my shoulder and I leant into the side of his chest and closed my eyes.

He put his face in my hair. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." I yawned. He started rubbing circles on my hip and I jerked up. "If you wanted me to stay awake, that's definitely working." Then, a man in a wheelchair being pushed by an older looking woman and an very old gentleman was walking slowly behind them. The Elders? Seth pulled me up to my feet and dragged me by my hand over there.

"This is Billy Black, Jacobs dad." I shook his hand and he grinned at me knowingly. "Old Quil Ateara, Quil's grandfather." I smiled at the wrinkly faced man. "And this, is my mom Sue." I gulped nervously until Sue gathered me in a hug.

"Nice to _finally_ meet you." She hinted, grinning the same dimpled grin as Seth. He slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me into his side possessively. We went back to sit down as the elders sat in the three fold out chairs at the head of the circle. Sam shifted so he was facing the same direction as the other Elders. That's right, Sophie told me that Sam was the head of the council or something. Bella whispered something to Jacob and he murmured something back about the tribe legends.

I listened with interest as the Elders went on to tell the stories and legends of the Quileute's. I'm sure the awe and amazement was written all over my face because Seth was smiling at me. The atmosphere changed back into the regular mood as everyone started teasing each other. I watched Jacob whispered to Bella as she started to blink heavily and her head started to droop. I took a bite of my slightly charred hotdog that I had stolen from Seth's skewer.

"I was going to eat that!" He cried, reaching after the food. This was the perfect time to try out my new doe eyes. I lifted my head, blinked ones and widened my eyes. I even made my lower lip tremble for the perfect heartbreaking look. He looked angry for a minute before he broke into a smile and his chocolaty eyes softened. "You've been practising." He laughed, dropping his hand and placing it back around my shoulders. I took a huge bite of the hotdog and smiled back at him. I looked around the circle, everyone was off in their own little conversations.

Leah nudged me in the ribs. "Look at that stupid girl. I really hate her." She muttered. I nodded in agreement and stole her marshmallow, grinning. "Clearwater food stealer!" She groaned, grabbing another from the bag at her feet. I looked back at Jacob to see that Bella had fallen asleep with her head in his lap. He was looking at her with so much love it made me sick.

"Jerk." I muttered. He glanced up at me with regretful eyes.

Then he shook his head. "You just don't understand." He mumbled.

"No obviously she doesn't, and neither do I for that matter. But how does anyone expect us to? You won't explain it." Meaghan piped in. "So do you want to explain it? Or do you want to kiss me again and run off to another girl that doesn't love you?"

"I'm sorry." He said. "I regret it okay?"

"Regret ever kissing m-me?" She choked, eyes filled with pain. "Well thats great Jacob. Great to know you care SO much about me!" She turned on her heel and ran.

"Damn it!" He cried, staring after her.

"Go after her, moron!" Leah cried, standing up.

He glanced down at Bella who was fast asleep. "I-I can't." His voice cracked. Leah picked up a large rock and threw it at his head.

"Get a fucking clue Jacob." She muttered before sitting back down. I sighed, slipped out from Seth's arm and stood up.

"I need to go." I told Seth regretfully. He took my hand.

"I'll walk you back, bye everyone." He waved goodbye.

I entwined my fingers with his as we started walking. "Night." I whispered. They all waved to me and Quil blew me an obnoxious kiss. "Drop dead." I called back and everyone started laughing. I walked almost faster than Seth, practically running down the cliff side. "Keep up Seth." I laughed.

He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder and started running. "What are you doing?!" I yelled.

"You wanted to go faster." He chuckled, keeping his pace. I folded my arms and sighed, my legs were falling asleep.

"Oh Seth?" I murmured. "_Bite _me."

"I'm not a vampire, Ashley." He chuckled.

"Because they don't exist." He was quiet. That got me thinking back to the legends. Werewolves and Vampires. What if they were real?

Hah, that would be the day. "We're here." He murmured, setting me on my feet.

"Gee thanks for putting me back on solid ground." I muttered, slugging him on the shoulder. He smiled at me, but it faltered and a dark look came into his eyes. He bent down and swiftly kissed me on the cheek, only an inch from my lips.

"Have a goodnight." He whispered. "Sleep well."

I touched my cheek and closed me eyes. "You too." I murmured dreamily. There was a gust of wind and my eyes flew open to watch him jogging home into the newly started rain. I watched him until the rain blurred my vision, making him invisible. I just stood there in the rain, getting drenched.

The door swung open. "Ashley? What are you doing? You'll get a cold!" Aunt Sophie called from inside the door. I turned around and blinked.

"Right." I murmured, rubbing my hands against my arms as I came back up to the house. "Goodnight." I called, running upstairs. I slammed the door of the bathroom and pressed my hand against my cheek. It was burning from the contact, my head was airy. I thought back to Seth, his muscled body, short but still curled at the end black hair, his big, puppy dog puddle of chocolate eyes. The way his russet skin glowed in the moonlight and the comparison of his white teeth as he smiled dimply.

I stripped off my wet clothes and jumped into the steaming hot shower. As I lathered my hair, I couldn't get the mannish boy out of my head. I didn't know him, but there was something that pulled me to him. I needed him, he was like breathing. I was falling for him hard, crazy hard.

I wrapped my fluffy white towel around my body and stepped in my room. Meaghan had her headphones on with her eyes closed, humming to herself. I threw my clothes on and sat at the end of her bed, rubbing her feet. She popped off her earphones and gave me half a smile, but mostly a grimace.

"How are you?" I asked.

"I've been less shattered." She joked. "There's just something there you know. Like a magnetic pull of gravity that's pulling us together. I just met him, but I might love him. It's my own personal version of love at first sight I guess." She sighed. '"But, obviously it's one sided. I just thought.."

I stared at her. "I have the same pull with Seth. It's freaky, isn't it? This place is just weird." She nodded and put her headphones back in, closing her eyes.

"I'm gonna sleep." She murmured.

I left her alone and started downstairs to watch television. Just as Embry walked through the door. "You." I pointed to him. "Outside. We need to talk."

"Are you breaking up with me?!" He gasped, laughing as he followed me out the door. I turned to face him and he sobered up at my serious look. "I thought you said you weren't going to ask questions!" He whined.

"I tried Embry, I really did! But this is just getting ridiculous!" I cried. "What the hell is wrong with Jacob? You guys? The funny magnetic pull that I all of a sudden feel around Seth. You need to tell me NOW!" I screamed. "I'M SICK OF IT!"

He put a hand on my arm and quickly drew it back. Then he placed it on my forehead and frowned. "Are you feeling okay?" He wondered. "You have a fever."

I punched him in the arm hard. "Knock it off." He pulled up his arm and I saw the slight bruise forming on his shoulder blade. Wow, since when could I do that?

"Ashley," His head snapped up, voice strained. "Go inside please, I'll be there in a minute." He looked so distressed so I followed instructions easily. But I still had to see if I could hear anything he said. I guess he was on the phone because I could hear a slight buzzing and then Embry would talk back. I heard only things like "Knew she looked Native," or "Impossible." I frowned, was he talking about me?

I remember Seth and wondered if he might tell me today. I decided to give it a shot. "Sophie?!" I called upstairs. She came downstairs and smiled.

"What's up?"

"Do you know where the Clearwater's live?" I asked. She got a piece of paper and jotted down the directions.

"Turn left at the corner of Aterara's convenience store and number 23 on the right side. Say hi to Sue for me!" She winked and went back upstairs. Embry was still outside on the phone so I ran out the back door and through people's backyard. As I hit the store, I noticed Quil was closing up the shop and I waved at him as he shut the door.

"Where you headed, sweetie?" He called, waving back. I laughed but didn't tell him in case he called Embry.

"Out, see you later." I replied, running a bit. Okay, 21, 22, 23! I went to go knock but I spotted a figure darting from the backyard. I squinted a bit and realised it was Seth. He didn't seem to notice me and I stood still as I watched him jog down the street. I silently followed him close behind, sort of like a stalker.

I laughed to myself accidentally and clapped a hand over my mouth. Seth skidded to a stop but kept going without turning around. As he reached the forest edge, he whipped of his shirt and darted into the forest. My eyes widened.

Wouldn't he need a shirt? But I shrugged and watched him disappear before I followed him into the woods, picking up his shirt on the way.

**A/N: Next chapter will be up after a few reviews. **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: As promised, another chapter (: This one actually makes me laugh a bit, just the visuals. I only have one more pre made chapter after this so I'll get on writing ASAP!**

I squinted into the darkness but couldn't see the hulked shape of Seth. He had disappeared so fast! I turned around, seeing if he had spotted me and was trying to scare me. No one, it was completely empty. I was utterly alone and I felt terrified. "Um, hello?" I called out timidly. The wind rustled the trees but it was silent other than that. I started deeper into the forest.

"Hello?" I called out again. I clutched Seth's shirt closer to my chest. "Anybody here?" Where did he go to now?! He couldn't have just vanished like that. So I started towards the left when I heard an ear piercing howl. It sounded like a wolf.

I stopped dead in my tracks. I was going to get eaten if I didn't run. So I turned straight into the forest and ran. I had a strange sense of déjà vu from the first night that I was here. Again, I was running from something but now, I was running to something as well.

I finally had a reason to stop running away. His name was Seth and it was about time I gave him a proper chance. "SETH!" I cried, terrified for his safety with a wolf running around. "Seth, where are you?" No one. "Jesus Christ Seth, if I die it's on your hands!" There was another howl and this time I ran faster.

I still couldn't find Seth, where did he go?! There was a rustle to my side in the bush and I skidded to a stop. Something was in the bush and with my luck it was going to be the wolf and I was going to die right here and now. _I love you Seth, Meaghan, Embry! _I cried in my head. I let out a big breath through my nose as the thing stepped out of the bushes.

"Ashley?!" It asked and I jumped ten miles. Seth scratched his head and looked at me, fallen on the floor. My heart slowed and a smile spread across my face at the same time a frown did on his. "What are you doing in the woods alone!?" He scolded.

"Looking for you," I breathed, jumping up to my feet. "I have something to tell you." I finally took in Seth. He didn't just have no shirt on, oh no. That would have been somewhat normal.

He was completely naked. As naked as the day he was born. I covered my eyes and screamed. I whipped his shirt at him blindly and he starts laughing. "Ashley, what is your-?" Then he stopped. "Oh SHIT! Look, I can explain!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, CLEARWATER?!" I screamed, completely appalled. "Are you some kind of freak or WHAT?" I was shocked.

"I have an explanation, please just calm down!" He cried.

"CALM DOWN?! You are NAKED IN A FOREST. There is definitely something the matter with you! Are you guys part of a nudist colony or something?" I moaned.

"It's not what you think." He muttered, and I heard a crunch in the ground. I peeked out of my hand, he had stepped towards me and was about to put a hand on my shoulder when I jerked.

"Stay away from me." I warned in a low voice. "You stay the hell away from me." He automatically drops his hand and I watch a teardrop fall from his eye glistening in the moonlight. My heart cracked a little more than it already was. He was crying over me.

It felt like every part of me was drooping with sadness as I turned to walk away from him. I forced every denying cell in my body to leave as he stood there. "Wait!" He choked out. "Let me walk you home, please. You'll get lost." I then realised I had no idea where I was and reluctantly agreed.

"You can't walk in town naked." I said in a flat voice. He threw his shirt over his head.

"My sweats are around here somewhere." He muttered, stepping into the bush beside me. He came out fully clothed and nodded forward.

I stepped with him but gave him a wary glance. "Just keep your hands off of me." He sighed and dropped the arm that was in the air midway. Both of them went into the pockets of his sweatpants and he focused his gaze forward. But the electricity was zapping between us and I had to fight with every muscle to stop my body from automatically moving towards him. It was absolutely ridiculous.

In ten minutes, he had easily found his way out of the forest. I had to ask him to move away from me plenty of times so we were now ten feet apart. My arm twitched towards him and I grabbed it with my other hand, practically forcing it to stay and not touch him. I didn't understand what was going on but it was weird. No matter how much I wanted to hate him I just couldn't!

I stopped at my porch and looked at him. "I-I," I choked. "Don't call me anymore." Then I ran into the house before he could see me crying. I walked past the living room in tears and found Embry on the couch.

He jumped up immediately. "Where the hell did you go?" He asked, coming beside me. "I was worried!" I looked up at him with my tear filled eyes. "Oh no. What happened?"

I backed away. "I don't know what the hell is going on here. But keep away from me. All of you!" I cried. "I knew there was something freaky about you guys." He was staring at me with wide eyes. "I'm leaving for a few days, I can't stay here." Then I turned around and ran up the stairs. I whipped out my pink cell from my purse at the side of the stairs and searched through my contacts. _Ateara, Black, Call, Clearwater._ Ah, Kailey.

It rung and rung and on the fourth ring, Kim picked up. "Kailey residence, Kimberly speaking." I laughed.

"Kim? It's Ashley. Listen I need to ask you a huge favour?" I wasn't in my room so I knew Embry could hear me. I was hoping he was listening. "Can I stay with you for a few days?"

She paused. "Sure, what happened?" I sighed heavily, I was hoping she would just say yes and avoid this.

"I'll tell you later. Thanks so much Kim." I paused. "Could you pick me up?"

"Be there in ten minutes." She laughed. "Hope you're ready. Bye!" The dial tone sounded and I walked into my room. I started going through my drawers and throwing random articles of clothing out onto the floor. Meaghan sat up from the bed she was laying on.

"Where are you going?" She asked, slightly panicked. I sighed and turned around smiling.

"I'm going to stay with Kim for a few days. There's a few things going on right now that I just need to get away from. I can't really deal with it." I explained as I grabbed my little suitcase from under the bed and started shoving everything into it. I grabbed my perfume off the desk and put it in the side pouch.

She had gotten off the bed and started over to the closet. "I want to come with you." She announced.

I smiled sadly at her. "There's a few things I just need to figure out by myself. Stay here and pry a few things from Embry, wait for Jacob to come crawling back on his knees and enjoy having a room to yourself." I zipped up the suitcase and headed for the bathroom. "I'll be back before you know it."

She followed me as I threw my toothbrush and other things into little plastic bags. "I'll miss you." She murmured. I gave her a huge hug.

"It's only a few days. Don't let Embry bug you too much." I teased, kissing her on the cheek. A horn honked from outside and I quickly grabbed my rain jacket and threw it on before gathering my suitcase and stuff. "Love you !" I called up to her.

"You too!"

I ran out into the pouring rain and into Kim's car after popping the trunk and throwing my baggage in there. "Hey." She smiled at me.

"Hey," I replied a little breathless. She didn't say anything else as we drove but I could feel her peeking at me out of the corner of her eye and it was getting really unnerving. I sighed. "I assume you want to know what happened?"

She perked a little. "How did you know?" Then laughed.

"Well, I had gotten into a fight with Embry and I went to go see Seth after the bonfire. But as I went to knock on his door, I watched him come out of his backyard and started running." I paused to glance at her and she nodded. "So I follow him and he throws his shirt off before darting into the woods. Stupid me decides to follow him in there too. What do I find? Bare naked Seth, out for the world to see." I rubbed my eyes tiredly. "He tried to tell me he had an explanation for it. Who really has a good reason why you're out in the forest completely naked? Seriously, something really weird is going on here."

It was silent for a second until Kim let out a huge breath of air and started laughing hysterically. She was bent over the steering wheel, one hand clutching her side and gasping for air. A few tears rolled down her eyes as she struggled to pay attention to the road. "Oh too good." She giggled. "Jared owes me twenty dollars now."

That's when I realised it. Kim was in on the secret too. I turned to glare at her. "WHAT is the big secret that everyone is hiding from me Kim?!" I pleaded. "Please, you can tell me! Girl to girl, confidential!" That sobered her up.

Her face turned stony serious. "Ashley, Seth isn't a freak. He really, really cares about you, probably more than you know right now. He will most likely show up soon and tell you the secret himself."

I groaned loudly. "Why can't you just tell me yourself!? It would make my life so much easier!" I whined, using my puppy dog eyes.

She's obviously been around the guys for a while as she automatically looked away. "It isn't really my secret to tell. Plus, Seth would murder me if he knew I told you when he wanted to. Well, if Jared would let him." She giggled and blushed at his name.

I rolled my eyes. "What about Embry? He's obviously part of the secret." I tried to search my brain for a good reason. "We are family, shouldn't he be legible to tell me?"

She shook her head. "Technically, it's Seth's job. That and he threatened Embry that he would destroy all his video games if he spilled the beans." She started laughing and turned on the radio.

I bit my tongue, something I've been doing a lot lately. I silently pondered everything on the way back to Kim's, fuming the whole way. I debated whether or not I should just go back, seeing as Kim is in on it. But I would rather deal with her than Seth, Embry and Jacob. My poor sister.

"We're here!" Kim sang, jumping out of the car and to the trunk. I took in the small, wooden house with the matching porch and smiled. It looked really cozy. "This is my home."

"It looks so comfy and homey." I crooned, grabbing my bag from her. She nodded and ran up the steps with me on her heels.

"Mama!" She called. "Papa? Dakota?" I shut the door awkwardly behind me as Kim threw her shoes into the messy pile on the left. I gingerly put mine off to the side as an older but still pretty woman came down the stairs smiling.

"Kimberly!" She laughed, kissing her daughters cheek. "You must be Ashley." She paused. "Anyway, nice to meet you darling. You're welcome here as long as you need. Family trouble?" I nodded and she gave me a huge squeeze. "Dakota!" She yelled in a less gentle voice. "Don't be rude."

A younger boy, about the age of eight came downstairs. "Hi." He muttered. I laughed at his lack of excitement. I wouldn't be very excited to see me either.

"I'll show you the guest room." Kim grinned, pulling me by the hand up the stairs. She led me to a room with a short wooden dresser, nightstand with a lamp, full length mirror and cosy looking four poster bed with an orange comforter,. The walls around were cream. It was sweet and smelled like cinnamons. "I'll let you get settled and sleep. It's late, night!" She left and shut the door softly.

I quickly pulled out my phone and dialled Meaghan's number. "Hey Ash." She answers almost immediately. I went to question her. "I was hoping you would call, I waited up."

"Ah, so listen. Kim's in on it and she won't spill _anything!" _I whined.

"How do you know?!" She asked frantically. "I mean, what is it with everyone not letting us in on it? Did she tell you, or did you find out?" She took a breath. "Details!"

I laughed. "Well I was telling her about how I found Seth naked in the woods and then started freaking out, and she-" I was cut off by a fit of laughter. "What the?"

"HAHA! Oh my, you. And he, was. Oh my GOD!" She squealed. "You never told me about that!" She laughed again. "Tell me about it." So I replayed the whole story, including the part with Kim while she laughed. "Wow." There was a large awkward silence.

"Yu-p." Then we started laughing. I talked to her for another half hour until we were both about to drop dead. "Get some sleep, cunt." I hung up and snuggled under my comforter. Pretty soon, I drifted off to sleep.

_I was back in the forest, I recognized the little opening. But when I tried to run to it, it started getting farther away. I had absolutely no idea what was going on, so I kept trying to run. Then I heard the high pitched howl from earlier that night. If I was replaying the scene, Seth was about to come out of that bush right now._

_But it was something else. A giant sandy coloured wolf stalked out of the bushes, taller than me on all fours. He looked hungry. He moved up to me and when I tried to run, my feet were stuck. The wolf growled into my ear and before it could take a bite of me,_

_It morphed into Seth_

That's about when I woke up screaming and crying. I was gasping for breath and clutching my chest. The door opened and Kim ran in frantically. "Are you okay?!" She cried, sitting on the bed and rubbing my back. "Tell me what happened."

"In my dream," I breathed in slowly. "There was a sandy coloured wolf. It was HUGE! It was coming closer and I couldn't run anywhere. Then, he morphed into Seth and I was so frightened! I didn't understand what was going on!" Her eyes went wide and she started mumbling something about a colour under her breath.

"Can you tell me more about the Quileute Legends?" I murmured, wondering if my dream was connected to that somehow. I had already forgotten all of them except for the one about the Third Wife. But she doesn't answer, instead she gets up and walks out of the room swiftly without so much as a no or a goodnight.

I curled back under my covers in shock, not tired enough to go back to sleep. These Quileute people were really started to get me mad with all their secrecy. I laid fuming for a good ten minutes before there was a sharp rap at my window, making me jump and fall off the edge of the bed which I was close to.

I debate whether to get a baseball bat or to scream loudly at the top of my lungs until I heard my name. "Ashley!" The voice was oddly familiar.

"Seth?" I asked incredulously. I opened the window and he fell in. "What the hell are you doing? You could have been killed." He scratched his head.

"I need you to meet me outside." With that, he jumped out the window.

"Seth!" I hissed. "Seth?" I looked out and realised he was gone. I wasn't going to go but I was curious so I slipped on my raincoat and boot slippers and crept silently downstairs and out the front door where Seth was waiting for me, relieved.

"You came." He breathed and grabbed my hand, pulling me along. It felt so amazing to be back in his touch again. He lead me a few minutes away from Kim's house, to the forest.

"Make it quick." I muttered. "What are we doing?" He stripped off his shirt and as much as I loved to see his muscles, I was freaking out. "If you expect me to get naked, forget it bub." He laughed and shook his head.

"I'm finally going to tell you, or show you actually, the big secret that everyone's been keeping from you." He smiled at me and ducked into the forest. I stood there dumbfounded. Was this some kind of joke? As I stared to where he left off, I couldn't see him at all.

Angry, I turned to leave when there were footsteps behind me. I turned to find the sandy wolf with the chocolate coloured eyes from my dream staring at me. Everything clicked into place at that very moment.

"Seth?"

**A/N: Hope I delivered that okay. As for recommendations, I've decided to pay my friend back for recommending my story.**

**AshleyCullen0021 has recently started a new chapter story about the werewolves we all know and love! Plenty of Paul goodness in there AND Cullen love! I've read some of the pre made chapters already and it's AMAZING! So go check it out, the first chapter is only up but I have a feeling you'll like the rest.**

**Plus, I'm thinking of doing a one shot about the hottest werewolf out there, Jacob! So tell me in a review if you would read it and I'll message you the summary and if you guys like it, I'll post it!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I know it's really, really short but I thought this would be the perfect ending ! (:**

The huge wolf nodded it's head, like it could understand me. I took a step back, resulting in it taking a step towards me. I was so scared that I tripped over the air and fell flat on my butt. It or he or whatever was coming closer so I started backing up as best as I could, frightened. I knew I could never out run it, so I did the next best thing right when it came too close.

I screamed right in its face. A loud, high pitched scream that made the wolf cringe and my throat bubble up. People's lights started to flicker on in the houses closest to us. I didn't realise I was still screaming until someone came up behind me and clamped a hand over my mouth. It was huge and warm and I started struggling and kicking. Tears were streaming down my face, my heart was racing, my palms were sweaty. All too familiar memories were coming to life again. Warm hands, strong arms trapped me until there was nowhere to go.

I swung my arms and legs around, trying to hit the person who was covering my mouth while the big wolf stared in horror. I panicked, shutting my eyes closed and biting down. I only ended up hurting my own jaw. I tried to scream, I tried to talk and even when I scratched and silently pleaded, he made no move to let go. "Someone hold her down!" They called. I recognized the voice, but not well at all. I was half delusional at that point. _No, no, no!_

Two more pairs of hands grabbed at me from either side and pushed me onto the ground. I was _freaking out!_ "You need to calm down." A light voice said from one side of me. I blanched, there was more than one. I had no way of escaping. I squeezed my eyes shut, breathing through my nose since the hand was still covering my mouth. When my body went limp with defeat, the one with the deep voice that had snuck up behind me, removed his hand. I opened my eyes and found Sam, Leah and Jared all looking down at me anxiously. I let out another breath and scrambled to sit up.

I looked up at them with teary eyes and sobbed. "Don't do that to me. Please." I was trembling with fear, curling into a ball and rocking back and forward. Sam reached out to touch my shoulder and I screamed louder. "Don't touch me!" I shook again. "Please, please don't touch me."

Damn, and I thought I was over these emotional breakdowns. "Ashley? Are you.." Leah trailed off, awkwardly touching me on the hand. She probably wasn't the queen of comforting people, especially people she hated. But she was a girl and even though it was a huge hit to my dignity, I threw myself at her, effectively knocking her onto the ground. Then, I curled up in her lap and cried like a little baby. Awkwardly, her tense hands curled around me and I crushed my arms around her neck. Eventually, her hands melted into an easier position and she stroked my hair. "Hey, it's okay. We didn't mean to scare you like that."

"You can't." I blubbered. "You can't sneak up on me like that. Please. Ever."

I'm pretty sure if we were in a cartoon, light bulbs would be shown over everyone's head, lighting up with a little _ding!_ "Well shit." Jared said quite loudly. "That would explain the freaking out."

Sam nodded his head and gazed at me with concern. "We'll be more careful, we promise. I'll let the pack know too."

I wiped my eyes and smiled a little bit. "Pack? Isn't that what you would call a group of dogs? Or.."

"Wolves." Leah offered.

Oh. _Oh_. I scrambled off of Leah as fast as I could, falling on the ground in the process. "You're all, wolves? Werewolves? Shit, you're lying. Sam please, tell me that you're lying!" I begged.

"No." He replied calmly. I slid back across the grass. "Ashley, let me explain." He reached out and I whimpered. He let it fall back. Then, I bumped into a wall.

Or I wish it was one. Nope, I had to run into Seth. The freaky werewolf man who I may or may not be in love with. His arms wrapped around me, holding me tight. "Let me go!" I cried. "Please Seth, let me go!" I was quite aware that he missed half of the big scene I has just made so I must have sounded pretty damn desperate because his grip slipped. I collapsed to the ground for the second time today. I was trembling all over. "You all lied." I whimpered, half insane. "Why?"

"I didn't want you to get hurt." Seth explained softly, inching towards me on the ground. "I wanted to give you a chance to run away from me. I tried so hard not to fall in love with you, I couldn't."

I blinked furiously. "You love me?"

"In more ways then you'll ever know." He answered, completely serious. I curled away from him on instinct as he sat beside me and pondered that.

"So you're a wolf.." I muttered disbelievingly. "It's not a full moon tonight."

They all laughed. "That's a myth, same with silver bullets. We can't be killed actually, not by anything but lee-" Leah bit down on her lip before she finished the sentence. Seth was shooting her death glares, Jared's grin was gone and Sam's hard eyes turned to completely solid ice before looking the other direction. Leah continued as if she didn't make an awkward pause, leaving me dumbfounded. "So yes, we are werewolves. Protectors, whatever you want to call us."

"Lee what?" I demanded impatiently. Seth sighed heavily and Leah muttered something under her breath.

"It's nothi-" Seth tried to say, but he was cut off.

"Leeches." The voice was the last one I expected to hear, the last person I thought who would get involved in this. Sam Uley.

I was confused. "Like those little black things that cling onto your body and suck your blood?" They all snorted.

"More like blood sucking immortals." Leah said casually.

"The undead?"

"You would call them vampires."

My eyes widened. "Vampires? Please tell me this is a practical joke." I looked at their grim faces, I was trembling again. "No. No, no, _no! _You're lying. All of you are lying!" A tear fell from my eyes. "I'm scared."

Sam crouched down lowly in front of me. "You have nothing to be afraid of Ashley. We'll always be there to protect you from the vampires."

I squeezed my eyes shut and avoided their faces when I asked my next question, swallowing hard and trying to block the tears of guilt. "But whose going to protect me from you?" I whispered in an almost inaudible voice. The cold wind whistle around me, blowing my hair around my face. Someone left, most likely Seth. I opened my eyes again as the tears fell freely.

But I wasn't alone, Leah had taken Seth's place beside me. She didn't look mean or jealous or angry, she looked sad. Sympathetic even, but there was no pity. "Not all creatures are bad guys you know. Seth really does love you, he would never hurt you. Please remember that." I wiped away my tears as she stood up and offered me a hand. "I'll walk you back to Kim's."

I avoided her hand skilfully and hoisted myself up to my feet. I was covered in little leaves and twigs with the occasional mud splatter from collapsing and being rolled around on the ground. I stared straight ahead, following Leah's near silent footsteps back to the front door of Kim's. "Night Leah." I muttered as I slipped through the door quickly.

The room was dark and quiet, but I could make out Kim sitting on the couch. "Hi Kim." I muttered, trying to avoid another awkward lecture about the safety of werewolves. She barely looked at me as she walked at my side swiftly.

"You really hurt Seth." Was all she said before she left. Had she been watching that whole scene?

I felt unbearably guilty, my heart weighing me down as I stepped upstairs to the guest room and buried my face into my pillow before I started full out sobbing and heaving until I ran to the trashcan in my room to be sick.

Somewhere outside, close to my window, a wolf howled. The sound was absolutely heart wrenching and I dropped to my knees under the now open window sill and took a few deep breaths before I drifted off into my sleepy state, still on the ground.

I woke up not too long after, crying hysterically. I had another gut wrenching, terrifying nightmare. The ones that usually came after my little episode, but oddly different. The creature in my dream was pale with red eyes and a menacing grin, probably a vampire. He starred in my dream today, instead of my father like usual. But he was doing all the things my father did, holding me down and his hand went down the front of my pants. I didn't like it, it was too cold. It felt so wrong, so disgusting. But he was stronger than my father ever was. I squirmed and wiggled but I barely moved an inch. So I was forced to lay back and relive all the things I tried so hard to run away from. Until something appeared and suddenly, the vampire was gone.

Standing on top of it growling, was the sandy wolf from earlier. Seth, if you may. He was snarling and it looked like he had the upper hand until I realised he was howling in pain. The vampire had his hands digging into the back of his spine and soon, his mangled body was limp and thrown to the side. The pain of losing him seemed so real, so much worse than anything that had just happened. I cried out for him and ran to his body just as it disappeared into tiny pieces and floated through the air.

That's about when I woke up screaming for the second time today. It also brought me to my first realization of that night.

Seth would never hurt me. Then I knew, I didn't need to be afraid. I also knew I needed to find him, right now. I peeked out the window to see the drop. I could reach the tree and probably scurry down it and if I was lucky, not fall and break something. So I hopped over the window sill in my pyjamas and stretched my foot onto the first tree branch, swinging and grabbing onto the trunk for dear life. This would be a whole lot more convenient, if I were a werewolf.

I made it all the way to the last branch when I slipped on the wet bark and fell on my butt. I seem to be doing that a lot lately. It had started to rain so I wrapped my arms tightly around my torso and began the ten minute walk to Sam and Emily's.

It was around one in the morning when I got there, but the light was still on so I knocked lightly. Sam answered, he didn't look like he'd been sleeping. A smile came on his face when he noticed it was me but he kept his distance. "You never had a chance."

"I know that now." I admitted. "But I don't know why. Is he here?"

"In the kitchen." So that's where I went. Quil was there too with Brady and Collin and Paul. Their heads shot up when I entered the room.

"Ashley? Look at you, you're all wet. What are you doing here?" Seth asked, slightly shocked as he slowly made his way towards me, cautiously almost. I walked up to him so that our chests were touching. I bowed my head up to look him in the eyes.

"Kiss me." I commanded.

And he did. His lips were so smooth, like a caressing feather wisp against my lips. His hands, scorching and alluring, grabbed onto the back of my shirt to pull me closer, tighter. I locked my hands into the curly ends of his hair, madly moving my mouth with his. This was heaven, this was real. This was us.

We broke apart and I gasped out loud. "Like magic."

"You have no idea." He smirked. "There's this thing, it's called imprinting."

Finally! Something I knew. "I know what that is!" I shouted happily.

"You do?" He asked incredulously. "Did Embry tell you?! Oh I'm going to kill him."

I laughed and shook my head. "I'm not that dumb. You know, when a baby duck imprints on the first person they see when they're born. That's called imprinting right?"

Everyone in the room started laughing and I blinked, embarrassed. Was I that wrong? "Technically yes, but I'm talking about something else. Something more magical. When a werewolf first sees _her-_"

"Whose her?" I cut him off curiously. His eyes narrowed the slightest bit.

"Don't interrupt kid, I was getting there." He said, exasperated.

I groaned. "Then don't call me kid."

"Fine. Anyway, when a werewolf first sees her, the one he's meant to be with, it's like an uncontrollable force. The need to be with her, to see her, to have her is just unbearable. You will do whatever it takes to have her. It's like, gravity. But technically there is no gravity for you anymore. She is your everything, she's holding you on the Earth. Imprinting works two ways too, the imprint is just as bound to their imprinter."

Suddenly, I started giggling. "You imprinted on me in the grocery store didn't you!?" I cried. "I was thinking, what a freak the whole time. And here you are, telling me you're a werewolf. Wow, I was right. I am a great judge of character."

"So _anyway,"_ He stressed when people started snickering. "You are just as bound to me as I am to you. It's irreversible. That's why you feel the magnetic pull that you told Embry about. You love me as much as I love you. No matter the distance, how long ago we met, nothing."

"How did you know about that?"

He smiled sheepishly. "The pack can read each other's minds."

My eyes grew huge. "So if I asked you to tell me what Sam was thinking, you could?"

"No, we can only read them in wolf form."

"That sucks!" I complained..

He shrugged. "That's life."

I looked into his deep brown eyes and asked, "So I'm stuck with you huh? I guess I can't fight fate." I scowled.

He grinned cheekily. "I guess you can't."

I leant up on my tiptoes and kissed him on the mouth. "That's fine with me."

"I love you Ashley." He murmured.

"I love you too Seth." I replied. I've never said anything so true. So many piece of my heart had been taken over the years but Seth, he managed to put them all back in a matter of days. So that was it, we all lived happily ever after right?

Wrong.

**A/N: Ah, yes. This chapter is tiny BUT I do like it ! This is also the last of my prewritten so hopefully I can get my lazy butt working again!**


	9. Chapter 2: Interlude

**A/N: Hello everyone! I am working on the next chapter but right now im writing for my other story, so while you're waiting, I hope you enjoy this interlude of chapter two!**

Seth's POV on his chapter two.

"Seth?" Jared asked, leaning over top of me. I groaned and stretched in response, accidentally rolling off the couch. I looked up and noticed there was no one else around. Curse the pack plural, it's such an inconvenience sometimes.

Jared was guffawing as he walked away. "The boys will get a kick out of this tonight." My hands fell in my head. I was already one of the babies of the group, but constantly embarrassing myself is not helping my status. Not to mention that I didn't have an imprint. Or girlfriend for that matter.

"Where have you been anyway?" I asked Jared as I followed him into the kitchen.

He had a leftover muffin shoved in his mouth. I rolled my eyes, wondering if I looked like that when I ate. Wild savage doesn't really suit me in my mind. He swallowed the huge hunk and coughed.

"Me n' Quil went over to Embry's place. Imagine our surprise when he walks in with a girl in his arms, literally!" He exclaimed

"Wait, Embry has a girlfriend?" I was shocked. Usually, us werewolves didn't date. In fear of having another Leah, Sam and Emily situation.

He snorted loudly. "No, turns out his cousins came to live with him. She was too hot to be his imprint anyway." I smiled a little. Typical teasing of the Pack.

There was a yell from Emily's basement. "I HEARD THAT JARED!" His eyes widened to the fact that I thought they were going to fall off. I finally let out my laugh that I had been holding in.

"I'm sorry Kim, baby! I didn't mean it, she wasn't as good looking as you!" He grovelled, running downstairs. I shook my head. The power of imprinting is something I never want to experience first hand. Sam walked into the kitchen then, shirtless.

"Sam, is that you?" Emily called as she came up from the basement. Jeez, she's like an Alice or something. I cringed, knowing the boys would beat me up if they knew I even thought about the Cullen's. _Leeches,_ as they would put it. I actually had the decency to think of them as normal people.

Sam wrapped his arms around her as she appeared in the kitchen. "Could you go to the grocery store for me? You boys eat like there's no tomorrow and I'm running low." She used the power of imprint puppy dog eyes on him. "I'd go myself, but we have guests."

"Of course." He replied without hesitation.

She looked at me and grinned. "Oh, maybe Seth could go with you!" I opened my mouth to protest but she sent me a heartbreaking pout. "I mean, so it's faster for everyone."

I sighed. Sam wasn't the only one affected by Emily. We all loved her and to see her like that just makes me give in.

"You knew I'd say yes." I teased.

"Oh but I just love teasing my favourite werewolf."

Sam cut in. "Hey!" He whined. "I thought I was your favourite."

She patted his face. "Oh honey, don't worry." She smiled gently. "You come in close second."

I snorted at Sam's torn expression and headed towards the door. I didn't even have to turn around to know why no one was following me. "Stop sucking face and get a move on, dearest Alpha of mine." He growled lowly at me but was behind me in a flash. "You know, you should really start setting a better example for us minors." I gestured to myself.

"Shut it, Seth."

"I'm only stating a fact. Aren't you supposed to be my role model or something?" I laughed at the very idea of it. He may be my leader but I would never think of him as someone I looked up too.

No offence to him or anything. I just hope he doesn't accidentally see this in my mind later.

I jumped in the passenger side of the truck and Sam revved the engine. The rain was really pouring down hard, thudding doubly loud on the roof of the truck to my sensitive ears. On our way, we almost splashed two people walking on the sidewalk. The man stuck his finger up at us and I laughed at Sam's frustrated look.

Finally we pulled into the small parking lot, which was filled with more cars than usual. I sighed and trudged in the rain, shaking my hair a bit. People were giving Sam and I weird looks as we walked around in the freezing cold with short sleeved shirts and rolled up sweatpants.

I yawned as Sam walked around, picking out things that Emily needed. As he was waiting in line at the deli, I took the buggy. "I'll get some other things while you're waiting." He nodded absently, rechecking his list that Emily made him.

"Whatever." I muttered, walking to the next isle and down it. First I scanned the shelf, but a flash of huge muscle caught my eye. I looked up and squinted. Was that Embry?

I moved forward, pushing the buggy faster as I tried to catch a glimpse of his face. I wasn't really paying attention until I smashed into something. Or someone.

"Ow, OW!" They hissed out. A girl, obviously. Or a boy who hadn't quite hit puberty.

I caught another glimpse of the tall boy from around the corner,. "I'm so sorry!" I cried out. "Are you okay?" I was sort of distracted, but I could feel her gaze on me.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." She sounded like she was crying. I finally snapped my gaze to her and froze.

Timed seemed to stop. Everything froze around me and all I could see was her. It was like she was glowing, shining out to me. Her dark brown hair was glittering and her sweet face was contorted in pain. I inhaled, she smelt like coconut shampoo. When she twisted her hair, my rigid body fell backwards absently and crashed into a large shelf.

But for some reason, I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Not even when everything on the shelf scattered around me or people came to see what was going on. That's when all the pieces fit together and my eyes widened in horror.

Imprinting.

She gasped in horror and crouched down beside me. "Are you alright?!" She exclaimed, holding a hand out to me.

I probably looked like a complete moron, staring at her all flushed and dazed. But I couldn't register anything except for the way her marble green/blue eyes sparkled in the light. She was memorizing, she took my breath away. I slowly started to get off, never taking my eyes off her face. She was watching me warily, as if she feared for my sanity.

I didn't blame her one bit.

Her mouth opened as if she was going to speak, but her gaze flickered down the isle. "Seth, what is going on?!" I was so focused on the girl in front of me that I didn't even notice Sam come in. I turned to stare at his face, completely bewildered.

His eyes went from confused to knowing and his mouth tightened in a grim line. I sighed and looked back at _her._ She hadn't moved an inch, yet she was watching Sam at the same time. Sam was watching her as well, with a look that said 'I know something you don't'! His eyes were hostile and I frowned at that.

"Let's go." He told me, not using his Alpha voice. Of course, I didn't budge. I don't think it was physically possible for me to get up and leave, not knowing when I'd see her again. He sighed, annoyed. "_Now,_ Seth!"

That, I had to listen to. I shot off the floor immediately, stumbling over the cans littered under my feet. I'm actually surprised I didn't fall, my eyes stuck on the beautiful girl in front of me. My eyes were probably huge as I stared at her.

She had finally moved, backing up against the shelf opposite of the one I had scattered. That's when another tall boy skidded around the corner. AHA! I knew I had seen Embry. My gaze had flickered to him for half a second before returning to her.

He took one look at the scene in front of him and groaned out loud. "Not my cousin, Seth!" He was furious. This Goddess was his cousin? My gaze flickered between the two of them. I could see the resemblance. My eyes finally stayed on Embry, who was glaring daggers at me.

"Um," The beautiful angel spoke up, staring at me. "What the hell is going on?!" I opened my mouth to speak, momentarily distracted by the ringing bells of her voice before Embry reached over and grabbed her elbow tightly.

"Nothing Ashley. I have everything I need, let's go." He started dragging her away.

"Ashley." I murmured under my breath. Everyone looked at me. Ashley's face was stitched in confusion.

Sam stepped forward, his leader face composed. "We'll talk about this tonight Seth, Embry." Embry nodded anxiously and dragged Ashley as fast as he could down the isle. My face crumpled in pain when I realised she was leaving, but I followed Sam anyway, staring at the back of her head on my way.

"Seth." Sam started but I interrupted.

"This isn't my fault. I couldn't control it at all!" I frowned.

"Embry won't be happy." He muttered absently.

"Neither will Leah." We both flinched. Leah was convinced that imprints were your own personal demon sent to punish you for your sins. Well in simple terms, she put "Imprints fuck up your life." But I think she meant it like that. Either way, she would be furious with me. I sighed heavily, imprinting isn't as great as everyone thought it was.

Until I thought back to that amazing sparkle in Ashley's eyes and I had to disagree with myself. Imprinting was amazing To find the one you're meant to be with, to just love everything about them.

Love is the closest thing we have to magic. Imprinting is the skill that helps you find it. If Leah can't accept the fact that fate chose love for me, than she's going to have to deal with it.

I was silent the whole way back, my heart thumping out of my chest. Sam's wary glance kept darting from the road and back to me again. I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to look at him.

The car skidded to a stop in Emily's driveway and I climbed out into the rain wordlessly, Sam following close behind. The noise was loud coming from the house and when we entered, Emily grinned at us.

Until she noticed our serious faces. Then her right side of her mouth twisted into a frown. "Pack meeting, in the basement. Immediately. Imprints too, now." The house went silent as everyone awkwardly shuffled downstairs, peeking back at Sam and I.

I grimaced as I spotted my sister in the pack.

I squished into an armchair and Leah perched on the edge, leaning back. Everyone else scrambled around, forming an awkward shaped circle. We all turned to Sam, my palms sweating nervously.

"Well, I have important news." Sam began in a completely business like tone. "Seth imprinted today." Leah's body tensed and a few surprised gasps filled the room. "On Embry's cousin." I rolled my eyes at the name of the only wolf not present.

Suddenly, weight was gone from the chair and a door slam echoed through the room. Leah had fumed off.. I put my hands in my head and sighed. The room was deathly silent. Suddenly, Quil started laughing.

"So you imprinted on Embry's cousin eh? Which one, the smoking hot blonde or gorgeous brunette?" He shook his head. "Man that one girl was cold. She didn't even respond to my flirting" I rolled my eyes, but answered anyway.

"Ashley, the brunette." He reached over from the edge of the couch and clapped me on the back.

"Good luck bro." He laughed. "She's a sarcastic one. You'll never be bored." Then he turned to Sam. "What happened anyway?"

So Sam launched into the whole tale from when he had found me sprawled on top of a shelf. I was flushing with embarrassment and everyone was laughing. Even Emily was trying to hide a smile.

"Dude, you fell into a shelf?" Paul guffawed. "That's smooth. A real chick grabber." I scowled at him.

Luckily Jake stepped up, as usual, to defend me against Paul. "At _least _he can get a girl."

"You don't see her giving out her phone number to him, do you? What do you know about getting girls anyway? They usually leave you for _bloodsuckers._" Jared of course stepped in to Paul's defence. The teasing tone of the room flew out the window as Jared hit a soft spot and Jake looked away angrily. Our pack were brothers sure, but really? It was usually Paul, Jared and Sam, the three originals, on one side and then Embry, Quil and Jake usually took my side or I'd take theirs. Brady and Collin were too new to really choose a side and Leah hates us all, but she'd pick my side if she had to. She's my sister, she has to.

I'm not sure if Embry's really ready to pick my side after today. Really fate? His _cousin?_ What did I ever do to you to deserve that? Her chocolate brown hair, cream and rose skin, wide mixed marble eyes…

Damn. Imprinting really was as bad as everyone said. I didn't even know her, yet she was on my mind at all times. I sighed happily, my eyes were probably glazed over.

And then I was flying over. I landed sprawled out on the armchair and Paul sat back down on the floor and laughed. "Dude, we've been calling your name for five minutes. Where were you?" But Sam knew, Jared knew, Quil knew. I was thinking of _her,_ she was so beautiful and shy. Almost like an angel, reserved for me.

I shrugged. "Sorry, can't help it. She's always there, in the back of my mind. Pushing her way to my thoughts you know? Sort of like a flesh eating disease but better. Way better man."

And Quil and Jared laughed. "That would be our cue to go. Embry invited us for dinner tonight and who are we to pass up a free meal right? Beside, Sophie's cooking and we all know she's amazing!" Jared rubbed his hands together and smacked his lips.

"Let me come." I said automatically. Ashley was there, I needed to see her.

Sam shook his head. "No." Alpha command, Jesus. "Too obvious. Why don't you invite them down here to meet us? I'm sure Embry will get her over here somehow. Kim can stay here and hang out with Emily, I'm sure Leah will come back later. She never stays away for long. Claire's out of town for the week right? So she can meet her later."

Quil mocked saluted him. "Alright boss man. I'm off to fulfill my duties. Ten four!" And that got him pelted with pillows as he ducked out the door laughing.

"You and Jacob have patrol tonight!" Sam called out the door. He stopped laughing and groaned, along with Jacob. Brady and Collin were the only ones missing from this meeting, we'd fill them in later. "Now, Emily said dinner was going to be ready soon. So boys, lets eat!"

I fisted my hair in my hands. "I'm not hungry." I mumbled. They shrugged at me and filed out of the room, cheerfully talking about their favourite dish. Sam patted me on the shoulder.

"A few hours, Seth. It's only a few hours. She's with Embry, Quil and Jared, she's safe." He nodded to me and exited.

While I sat. For who knows how long, until I heard other voices from upstairs. "We brought Embry!" I heard Quil announce. "Along with his smoking hot cousins." And my fists clenched and I growled. There was an unfamiliar laugh, that didn't belong to my angel. After I had calmed down my shaking, I headed upstairs to greet them. I watched from the hallway as Emily gave them her usual warm welcoming that melted even the coldest of hearts.

She turned when there was a large crash, and I watched as Paul tried to hide the pieces of a broken vase under the couch. As I flickered my eyes back to Ashley, she had her head ducked down to look away from Emily's scars and didn't notice when the girl standing next to her wandered downstairs. She had pretty blonde hair and she was probably very attractive, but I didn't really see her face. It was sort of blurry and imperfect as she stood next to the most beautiful thing on Earth.

I followed her as she looked around for the girl, wandering silently behind her into the kitchen. She crashed into Sam when she wasn't paying attention and I knew automatically that she recognized him when she ducked her head back down after they locked eyes. "Sorry." She mumbled, her voice dropping a few pitches. God, she was so mesmerizing. I watched Sam look behind her straight at me and I grinned at him, stuffing my hands in my pocket.

He tried to divert his attention from me, as not to give away my whereabouts. He looked around the room and asked, "You know where Quil is?"

"Downstairs." Her voice was a few octaves up, and obviously nervous. I glared at Sam, nearly burning his face off with my eyes. Why does he have to act so freaking intimidating?

I watched him roll his eyes discreetly and give Ashley a bright smile. I frowned at that, it was so _cheesy._ "Thanks." Then without a second glance or a goodbye, he looked at me once more, loped around and left.

Bewildered, Ashley stared after him as I moved up silently. "Yeah." She murmured, distractedly. I put a hand on her lower back and watched her almost jump out of her skin. I could hear her heart hammering away from here.

"Don't be intimidated of him, it goes right to his already big head." I whispered in her ear and she spun around speedily. When she glanced up at me, her heart sped up even faster. I stared at her in awe and smiled lazily.

She gasped. "Oh. You nearly gave me a heart attack!" That wiped the smile of my face. Did she say heart attack? Was she in pain?! Oh my Lord, help me! I pulled her slightly closer by the arm and started inspecting her face. Her whole face lit up, staining red. "What?" She murmured.

Did she seriously just ask me that? "Are you feeling okay? Not dizzy or in any pain?" And then she started laughing so hard that she doubled over. Are you _serious?_ "Why are you laughing?!" I asked desperately.

"Seth." I nearly dropped right there. She said my name for the first time, it sounded so much better coming from her than anyone else. The little lisp that came out at the end was so _cute._ "It's just an expression."

Oh. Right. I knew that. And I relaxed, knowing she was safe. "Oh thank God." I smiled warmly. "Why don't I introduce you to everyone?" She pursed her cute, plump lips as she pondered and I chanted in my head. _Please say yes, please, please._

"Sure." She smiled just as widely back at me, her smile rivalled the beauty of the sun. I pressed a hand to her lower back and led her into the living room where Quil and Jacob were just about to go out for patrol.

"You know Quil. But that's Jacob Black." I nodded towards him.

He tried his best to force a smile onto his face and I really appreciated the effort. "Hey." And then his smile faltered as Ashley gazed into his eyes and squinted as if she was analyzing something. He shrunk back as casually as he could manage, hiding his awkwardness. "What are you doing..?" He asked.

I watched the corners of her eyes angle downwards as she frowned at him. "You just look so _sad._" And I gaped, because he was wearing his happy mask. Wow, my girl was insightful. I grinned broadly at her. "I'm sorry, I'm freaking you out aren't I?"

Jacob nodded but he smiled his first genuine smile in months. It crinkled his eyes and lit up his sorrow face. "Thanks for the concern." Him and Quil turned to exit and he winked at me before shouting back at her. "You aren't _that _big of a freak." I nearly ripped his head off until Ashley started laughing loudly. The sound made me smile automatically and I took her hand.

We went to the basement next, where most of the people were. I gave Paul a warning look before I pointed him out. "This is Paul." Thankfully, he took my glare to heart and put on a friendly smile and waved. Ashley's wary look relaxed when he did that. I nodded over to Jared and the mousy girl beside him. "Kim, Jared's imp-" Crap. I caught myself hopefully before she noticed. "Girlfriend."

She let go of Jared's hand and grabbed Ashley into a hug, half twirling her. She smiled and I pointed to the newbies. "Collin and Brady, the youngest." And then I led her over to where Leah was chatting to the same girl from earlier, with a ghost of a friendly smile on her face. "This is my sister, Leah." I fought a cringe as the warm look on Leah's face disappeared into a blank mask. "And I don't know her?"

She grinned at me and half hugged the mystery girl. "That's _my _sister Meaghan." Then, she turned to Leah who had her eyes slightly narrowed, so that no human could really tell the difference. She held out her hand. Oh no, no, no Leah please! "Hi, I'm Ashley."

And Leah's face changed so drastically that everyone, because they were all watching, went silent. Her eyes were like ice and her mouth was a sneer. "I know who you are." Ashley's eyes flickered back to mine, filling with tears. My whole face pulled down into a pained grimace at her pain.

But she sucked up her tears and I watched her face change and she turned back to Leah with her head held high. I nearly broke out laughing right then because I was so proud of her.

My girl didn't go down without a fight.


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: And I am back in stealth! With this brand new laptop that I didn't pay for. No more crashing files and unnecessary long breaks. I decided to start with this story first because Meaghan has been bugging me forever to write it and post it. Yes, the real one, not the fictional one. **

**Pretty soon, I'll be posting pictures of Ashley and Meaghan on my profile so you can get a better view and idea. So I'm back, slowly but surely. Don't worry about a Taste of Forever, with the help of my new beta, I'll be back up and writing in no times. In the meantime, enjoy!**

"End of discussion."

I sighed angrily; those were the words I had been hearing for the past week at least four times a day. We both had mimicking stances of defiance. I was standing by the open door, hands on my hips and eyes narrowed. Seth was sitting on the couch, looking anywhere but me with his muscular arms crossed tightly across his chest.

After admitting to Seth that I loved him and knowing his big secret, wasn't it supposed to get better? Wasn't the glory of first love supposed to rule all? And Kim told me that the werewolf _never_ gets mad at his imprint. So why wasn't he agreeing with me? Why was he staring out the window instead of trying to reason with me? "Seth, why are you so _against _me on this? Aren't you supposed to be on my side? I don't understand why you always get so mad at me!"

"I get mad, because it's none of your damn business!" He roared, his hands clenched into almost white fists and he shook once.

My hip popped up cockily. "Really? So it's none of my business that she has NO problem talking to any of the guys but suddenly I know the secret and oh look, let's rag on Ashley! Do you know how much it hurts to have my best friend hate me for a secret that's not even mine in the first place? One that she should know anyways but Jacob's too much of an asshole to tell her?" Oh, did I forget to mention that Jacob had imprinted on Meaghan?

Yeah, that's what _I_ said. This is where the fight starts, as always. Let's see, have I also mentioned that Jacob fucking Black is too much of a pussy to tell her or realise that she's perfect for her because hell, she's his _soul mate_? And yes before you ask, he's still having whiny depressions over little Miss Leech Parade.

Oh and because I'm part of the pack now, officially, I have to see him every stinking day at Emily's. Not to mention that he's best friends with Embry, so I constantly see him at my house too. To add on to the awkwardness, I also have Meaghan there who ignores me and avoids Jacob like the plague. Well, not like you'd have to work hard to do that. All he does is mope on the couch with his head drooped down and placed in his hands while he tries to pay attention to what Embry is talking about.

Seth told me it was because Leech Parade and Stalker Leech were going to get married, which he had been invited to attend along with Seth and his family. Seth was going. Jacob wasn't. I swear to heavens that boy was so dense. I was also invited by Seth as his date.

I blatantly refused, making a few gagging noises and rolling my eyes. I didn't tell him that I was terrified of them and was afraid that I'd fall, cut myself and have someone chase after me and attack.

Anyway back to my original point. Jacob Black is a moron. I think that about sums it up, because I could go on and on about him. After I figured out the imprinting situation, I found out that he wasn't going to tell her. So naturally, I asked if I could tell her and everyone yelled at me.

Have you ever been yelled at by eight werewolves at once? Yeah, it's not fun. Leah just shrugged at me and Embry sided with me on that one because of all the drama that had been going down at our place. I swear I couldn't even sit at a table with Meaghan there without her glaring at me and walking away. Sharing a bedroom was awkward so eventually Embry gave me his room and he slept on the couch, which was probably not the best for his huge frame but he didn't seem to mind.

So I couldn't tell her because it was "Jacob's job, when he was ready." I swear, if a broken heart from Bella the bloodsucker pet doesn't kill him, I would decapitate his head.

Because when I got home after I stayed at Kim's, she knew. She knew that I knew the secret and I had to sit there and tell her that I wasn't allowed to say anything about it. I had to pretend that I didn't want her to know. Even though we were in this together, I let her down. She didn't let me forget it and wow, does Meaghan ever know the right words to yell at someone to make their heart break.

We haven't spoken since. So that was something else I clashed with the whole pack on. I swear Jacob was shaking so much he could have been a tree in a tornado. I didn't realise I was in danger until Seth had jumped up, threw me behind him with so much force that Quil had to catch me, and started growling. I guess that's what happens when the wolves are about to phase. I was carried off single handed by him while Jacob sprouted hairs and turned into a massive wolf in Emily's basement. Yeah, he owed them for wall repairs and a new loveseat.

I turned my head to look at him and caught him glancing at me before he turned to look at the turned off TV. "Did you not hear me say end of discussion?"

"Since when do you get to decide when the conversation is over?!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air. He didn't answer me; he just sighed and shook his head like he was _disappointed _in me. "If I were a vampire, I'd castrate Jacob's balls. He's an idiot and he needs a harsh reality check."

So fast he was almost a blur, he stood up and yanked my chin up so that I would look at him eye level. "Don't even _joke_ about being a vampire. You hear me?" As best as I could, I nodded, holding back tears. He dropped my jaw and relaxed slightly. "Good. Please leave Jake alone, he's going through some things." Oh right, I forgot that Seth practically made the 'I love Jacob Black' fan club. But I was on a roll, so I couldn't be held responsible for my actions.

"Like denial, idiocy, useless pining, delusion, just to name a few?" I listed them off with my fingers.

Hs eyes flashed with an unnamed emotion. "You just wouldn't understand." Then he resorted to turning away from my gaze again and staring at the archway that led to the kitchen.

"And you would?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "I can't empathize but I can sympathize. We do read each other's minds and feel each emotion that someone else gives off so I guess I would kind of know. But as usual, here is the verdict. No telling Meaghan and this conversation is done."

But I wasn't finished. "I _hate_ you!" I spat. After, the words seemed quite childish, but watching the pain flash across his face from three simple words gave me the bitter satisfaction I needed.

"That's wonderful." He seemed to whisper. The harsher his words, the louder they got. "I only love you because I have to." By the regret on his face, he didn't actually mean to say those words. But it was too late, the damage was done and he couldn't take it back. I could slowly feel my heart being torn out of my chest painfully. In a sudden movement of uncontrollable anger, my hand shook and twitched before grabbing the nearest thing and hurling it at Seth's head.

He ducked before it made contact and I watched Sue's favourite vase hit the wall behind him and shatter, ironically reminding me of how I was feeling on the inside. Shit, I'd have to apologize to her and pay for that. But I wasn't really thinking straight at that moment. "Wonderful. Well I hope you find someone great who you aren't forced to love, because I never want to speak to you again." Then I paused with my foot halfway out the door. "Screw you."

"I'm sorry, Ashley. I didn't mean it! Please don't leave." I could faintly hear him shouting as I walked out and slammed the door. I realised that I have to walk home. It was raining. Well, at least some good came out of this because the rain mixed with my tears, making it seem like I wasn't crying when in reality, I really was. I felt like I was dying, the pains in my stomach made it tighten with nausea. I clamped my mouth shut to prevent myself from vomiting and tried to breathe through my nose.

Is this what they meant in the legends? That being away from your imprint was the worst pain imaginable? Because I thought that I was going to pass out, keel over in the middle of the street and die. I felt like all my organs were missing, that my body was slowly shutting down and weakening. My legs were already slowing down with each convulse inside my stomach. I felt empty and lonely, a little bit rejected. I didn't know if I could make it all the way home without collapsing, throwing up everywhere or both.

So it was just my luck when a black pickup truck skidded to a stop beside me right? Wrong, it was Sam Uley, the almighty Alpha who was also getting on my last nerve these days. I really didn't want to get in a car with him. But then again, I didn't want to walk home either. Besides, it would be sort of funny if I blew chunks all over Sam's interior right? Seth told me that his old truck is his pride and joy.

And then I was keeling over with pain, the mention of his name ripping through me like a chainsaw. My legs felt like I was walking on Jell-O platforms. But before I could collapse, Sam jumped out of his truck and easily caught me. The warmth I felt from his skin was so familiar yet it was the _only_ warmth I felt. I couldn't even register the fact that very man who annoyed and intimidated me at the same time was holding me in what could only look like a romantic embrace. I just knew that I was dangerously close to smashing my body on the floor and he was the only thing keeping me from falling, so I threw my arms around his neck and clung with all my might, not really trusting myself to get up and walk.

I'm sure he was confused, but he didn't even ask. He did what he did best, took control of the situation and lifted me carefully out of the pouring rain and into his truck. It smelt like diesel, peppermint and woods and good God was it _warm._ By the apprehensive look on his face, I could tell that he didn't really feel obligated to pick me up and drive me somewhere. Probably because I'm the one causing a pack ruckus lately.

Emily would kill him if she found out that he had left me on the side of the road in the rain. That's probably the reason he felt the need to give me a ride. I mean, have you ever tried to reason with an angry Emily? Advice, if you see her holding a spoon and glaring in your direction? Run.

Suddenly, the car jerked to a shaky start and I was thrown forward, clapping a hand over my mouth to keep myself from spewing everywhere. No matter how mad I was at Sam, I didn't want him to deal with cleaning my puke off his windshield and dashboard. Especially because with his heightened senses, he could probably tell what I ate just by smelling it. I watched him peek at me out of the corner of his eye critically. "You're not going to throw up are you?"

Not trusting my food to stay down while I talked, I gave him an unsure shrug just as we turned a corner a little too sharply. My stomach clenched and my eyes widened. Sam, being a smart man, pulled his truck over by the side of the woods where I proceeded to clamber out.

He watched me with almost an amused expression on his face as I doubled over and expelled all the contents of my stomach onto the grassy plains. To top that off, my head throbbed and each of my muscles ached individually.

Hm, maybe I was dying. I had joked about Jacob being killed by a broken heart, but maybe it was actually true.

Right that moment, I didn't really care. It was cold, raining and I felt like crap. I just wanted to curl up in the heat of Sam's truck and take a nap. I pulled my hanging hairs into a ponytail and slowly straightened out of my crouched position. I turned grimly back to face Sam and trudged back to the truck. He looked like he didn't want to let me in. "I'm all spewed out, don't worry. I can't promise not to soak your interior with tears though." True to my word and embarrassment, a few leaked out of the corners.

Sympathy Sam made an appearance for the first time since I had met him and he helped me back into the truck and gave me his jacket that was hanging over the seat. It was like a dryer in there, big and warm. I couldn't help but sigh a bit as the warmth helped my aching body and throbbing head. Cautiously he asked, "What's wrong?"

I almost didn't tell him but I figured he'd find out later and that I needed a good sob fest and heart to heart. Hopefully it would help getting it off my chest. "We got in another fight." He automatically knew who 'we' was and what the subject of the fight was. "It was worse than usual, we ignored each other for an hour and then fought for a half one. There were things that got thrown around by accident." I paused as Sam glanced at me. "I told him I hated him."

I noticed how he shook his head slightly to himself, almost in disapproval. I also noticed we had started to slow down, probably so that I could get my rant done out of the ears of other wolves. I'd have to thank him later. "What happened after?" He asked in a politely interested tone. His eyes were burning with curiosity.

My heart clenched painfully. "He told me he only loved me because he had to." I stole the calm mask that Sam wore so well and placed it carefully on my face, looking ahead. I saw him wince in my perpetual vision. Of course that was probably the worst thing a wolf could say to an imprint, it was an insecurity already. "I lost my temper a little bit and I might have picked up Sue's favourite vase and chucked it at Seth's head." He cracked an amused half smile at that, sometimes Sue could be scarier then Emily. "What else? Right, I told him never to speak to me again after that. Oh, and screw you."

"This grudge won't last long you know." He said in an even, smug tone. "You're already experiencing withdrawal symptoms; headaches, muscle pains, vomiting, emptiness and _rejection._" I flinched as the last one really hit home. "You probably won't get much sleep tonight either. Jacob doesn't."

I blinked. "You mean it's _Jacob_ who experiences this stuff?" He nodded and I barked out a hard laugh. "Can't say I feel sorry for him, it's his own fault. He's the one pining after bloodsucker baby while his soul mate sits miserably to the side while he ignores her."

Sam looked like he was going to comment on that when something distracted him. "Is that a birthmark?" He pointed to the left side of my neck. I had a big, light brown birthmark on my neck that was almost like a splotch showing after I had shifted the collar of his jacket down.

"It is. Yeah, I don't know where I got it from. My parents don't have one." I touched it. "Neither does my sister. I thought it was like a stain or something but nope, it's a birthmark." I shrugged. His face relaxed into that calm façade that he always put on. If he thought I didn't notice the grip on the wheel tighten and his eyes narrow, he was sadly mistaken. I almost thought he was going to phase but as soon as that thought came, he was in control.

Of course he was, it's Sam. After what happened to Emily... I shuddered visibly and pretended it was from the cold, drawing his jacket tighter around me. Truth is, I think my body is melting off from the heat in this thing. He stopped talking after that unfortunately, giving me more time to think about what had happened this afternoon. The tears made their reappearance in my eyes as we neared closer to my house.

I forced them to stay in. _Don't cry in front of Sam._ I repeated like a mantra in my head. His truck skidded on the wet gravel of the driveway as we pulled in. His stiff posture softened a bit to give me a goodbye nod before I left. I nearly tripped over my own feet more than once in my haste to get inside the house. Placed in the living room chairs were Embry and Quil, playing the Play station enthusiastically.

I kicked off my shoes, trying to be as quiet as possible when I realised I still had Sam's jacket draped around me like a heavy cloak. Without thinking, I swore and swung it onto the ground with a light thud from the weight. Both of their heads turned my way, eyeing my tear streaked face.

I looked at the floor, narrowing my eyes and burrowing my eyebrows, hoping to stop myself from crying. It didn't have an effect and a strangled sob released itself from my mouth. All video games came to a halt and I was engulfed in another pair of warm arms. Hoping there was no one else home to witness my embarrassing sob fest, I buried my face into Embry's shirt with an iron grip on his wife beater.

"Yeah, this is my cue to leave." An awkward Quil slipped out the door. I guess his expertise in crying girls came into use with the toddler kind. I would have laughed if I wasn't bawling my eyes out and being led to a couch. I felt pretty pathetic at that point, sobbing over a childish fight. But I couldn't stop the tears and I couldn't get rid of that heart wrenching feeling of hurt in my stomach. I had never felt so _unwanted_ in my whole life.

Ten minutes later, I was still leaking stray tears with my head placed on Embry's chest. He had been silent this whole time, so I felt I should say something. "Sorry." I murmured.

He shook it off like it was nothing. "Hey, don't even worry about it. I know we haven't known each other for a long time but you're family Ash. And I love you, so don't ever be afraid to ask for anything from me. Don't be ashamed for having feelings. Hell, this is only your first time anyway. I'm pretty sure I've held your sister while she's cried at least four times since the whole Jake incident."

"What?" I gasped. I had been so lost in Seth land that I had practically abandoned everything else that had been important to me before. Even though she was ignoring me, I should be paying attention to her. What kind of a sister am I? I buried my head into his chest again and moaned. "I am the worst sister ever. What is the matter with me Embry?"

He gave me a sympathetic back pat. "Imprinting is blind to anything around it."

"Imprinting is a pain in my ass." I complained. "Where is everyone anyway?"

He shrugged. "I think my mom took Meaghan shopping. I forget when that was though." I rolled my eyes, helpful as always. "So what's bothering you Ash? Do you want to talk about it?"

"No thanks Embry. I'm going to go take a nap. Or something unproductive like wallow in my own misery. But I'm sure you'll hear the whole thing from Sam or Seth when you phase. I'll see you later." I kissed him on the cheek. "And thanks."

I entered Embry's room, which I had unabashedly turned into my own the past few days and flopped on the bed. My eyes were dropping unattractively and I felt like I had just been in a train wreck. I curled into a tight ball, ignoring the burning pain in my muscles as I did so and listened to the nature outside, hoping it would relax me enough to sleep.

It almost did until I heard the front door slam. I knew it was probably Embry going to patrol so it didn't bother me. What did bother me was the long, painful howl that was emitted from the forest three short minutes later.

Just like if he had spoken, I'd recognize Seth's howl anywhere.

So I restarted my crying jag until I fell asleep, dreaming of birthmarks, wolves, fights, deaths and vampires until I woke up screaming muffled into the pillow in the dead of the night.


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: See, I'm still writing! I've got a case of writers block for the other story. (Sorry to my newly acquired Beta, if you're reading this!) But for now, enjoy!**

My night was unpleasant, to say the least.

Either I had the flu, or still suffering from IRS. (A new disease that I came up with, standing for Imprint Reject Syndrome) I was up at four, curled up in the bathroom and puking my guts out. I was breaking out into a cold sweat, though my fever was apparently 103.5, with goose bumps over every part of my body. Embry had heard me retching my organs out when he got home from his short night patrol, so he had ventured to the hall closet to bring me one of those heating blankets.

I weakly gave him crap from not telling me that he owned one of those, since the nights in La Push were unbelievably cold. His excuse was because he had such high temperatures from being a werewolf, he had completely forgotten about it. Accompanied with the blanket was a large glass of ginger ale, aspirin and one of my lost hair ties from the floor of my old bedroom.

Even with my never ending protest, Embry sat on the floor of the bathroom with me. He kept me wrapped up in his arms, which were so snugly warm and comfortable that I ended up throwing away the blanket, while occasionally taking my temperature and frowning when he realised it kept going up. The only time I left the safety of his warmth was to vomit again, which he just put one hand on my back and the other on his nose.

Of course, being a werewolf, the smell was a lot more revolting to him than it was to me. I couldn't imagine that though, since it was pretty raunchy.

I felt immensely guilty though, because I watched Embry's eyes droop and his head lull back a few times before he would jolt awake as if he had just suffered a great electric shock. So I told him to go to bed and not to worry about me. Denied, as usual. I heard him mumble something about being forbidden to leave, which made me think that Sam had given him an order or something.

I was worried never the less, that he would get sick. He told me that the werewolf immune system usually burnt off any virus that came their way, so he was good.

After about an hour, the overpowering heat of his skin made my cold sweat turn into a sweltering, vile outbreak of hot, dripping sweat. So after throwing up what seemed to be the last of food in my stomach, I curled up on the cold tiles of the floor. Embry had curled up against the back of the closed door, as far away from me as possible.

Needless to say, the aspirin was not helping. My joints ached, my fat ached, my muscles ached. I felt like I was dying without atoning for my sins, the transformation from Earth to Hell. I had curled up in a tight ball even as my muscles protested, groaning with every sick movement of my body. Tears poured out of my sore eye sockets.

I turned and flipped on the ground, trying to will myself to sleep where the ache of my body could go away. It didn't work and out of frustration, I ended up sobbing really loudly. Embry watched me silently from the same spot with worried eyes, the message behind them haunting my subconscious, as I moaned and called out for my mother.

Once my stomach settled, I was able to slid down from my newly acquired sitting position against the tub, back into my painful, lumpy mess on the ground. I placed my head in Embry's lap and moaned again, not for my mom, but for Emily.

Beautiful and sweet Emily, the person who was so motherly that my eyes would tear up every time I saw her, thinking about how lucky her children would be to have her as a mother. She'd never neglect them, degrade them or let them down. In a way, it made my stomach burn with jealousy.

Another half an hour passed and to my dismay and Embry's, I only got worse. My temperature was stretching to a high 105, making my heart pound with nervousness. This couldn't have been part of IRS, so I was obviously really sick. What if I had some disease or something, and I was dying?

So I launched myself upright and after the dizziness of my head slowed, I begged Embry to take me to the hospital. I thought he was pretending to be ignorant and not listen to me, until he scooped me up in his arms and carried me downstairs, into his mom's sweet little tan car. He looked like a giant squished up in the front seat, especially from my view in the back. If I had been feeling better, I would have surely laughed.

Instead, I settled for grasping my hair with my hands and groaning. It was half hearted, as my voice was barely there and I felt so weak and awful that I quit after half of it. Even closing and opening my eyes was a challenged, because my eyelids were sore too. I settled for closing them until we got to the hospital.

Which is where I expected to be now when I opened my eyes, not parked out front of Sam and Emily's house. Embry didn't meet my glance as he lifted me, light as a feather, out of the car and up the porch. My trembling hands twitched violently, a strange urge to smack Embry a good one right in the face washed over me. But I didn't mentally willing my hand to stop shaking like a leaf.

He opened the screen door and slammed on the wooden one with three swift raps of his giant foot. Sam answered, looking flustered and tired. He had obviously just woken up, hair mussed and pyjama pants wrinkly. He was missing a shirt, obviously and his face was one of annoyance until he took a good look at me and smoothly opened the door to let us in. Embry set me gently in the living room on the worn in, comfy couch and he followed Sam into the kitchen.

I could hear Emily bustling around in there and my lips twitched into a smile. Only Emily would be up at the crack of dawn, ready to cook and feed an army of hungry werewolves. She stopped though, as the boys entered and I listened as hard as I could to catch their conversation. It was surprisingly easy.

"She's been up all night, puking. Her temperature is a high one' o five and she keeps groaning in pain. I remember the sickly look on her face, the sweat and the aching body. Is it happening to her, Sam? Is she really going to transform?" Embry asked, panicked. Transform? I was definitely not Shia Labeouf's car.

I heard a pot or a pan drop to the floor, Emily's gentle gasp echoed. "Transform? As in.."

"All the signs are there, Embry. She's no different from the rest of us, she's got the Quileute blood running through her veins." Sam's hard, businesslike voice was hard to ignore. "Someone's going to have to break the news to Seth."

Silence. Dead and utter silence followed after that last sentence. I nearly cried out in frustration. Break what news?! What in Taha Aki's name were they talking about?

Emily was the one to finally speak up and break the silence. "Well, we'll cross that bride when we come to it okay? The cooking is going to have to wait I guess, my fellow wolf girl needs me." When the footsteps and voices turned in this direction, I rolled over and shut my eyes, moaning and pretending to be indifferent to what they had just been talking about. Though the frustration was eating my brain like mad, I put my poker face on. "Hey wolf girl." Emily had taken to calling me that ever since we had gotten closer. It never stuck with Kim like she wanted it to, and she didn't want to nickname herself. Luckily I liked it, it gave me butterflies to think about it. "How are you feeling?"

"Sh-Crappy." I replied in my scratchy, barely there voice. Hopefully I had covered up my almost swear before Emily had noticed. She told me it wasn't lady like to swear, so I tried to stick to that rule around her. "Do you have any aspirin?"

She smiled sympathetically. "Honey, your high temperature is going to burn it right away. It won't have any effect. How about I get you a cold washcloth for your forehead and make you some nice chicken noodle soup." I moaned and tossed my head back a bit. "Maybe a bucket as well." Emily added on hastily.

"No soup." I complained. "But I'll take you up on that washcloth. And the bucket." Then she was gone.

I relaxed my sore, tense muscles while she was gone, trying to rid myself of the pain. Embry said my temperature was reaching a high one 'o five. If that was the case, shouldn't I be at the hospital? No, shouldn't I be dead, or on the verge of it? This can't be a normal temperature for anyone. Yet no one even thought about taking me to the clinic.

So I carefully got off the couch and slunk my way slowly to the door. "Where are you going?" Sam asked.

"To the hospital, because none of you seem to be taking my condition seriously. I should be dead right now, so obviously something is wrong with me." I stated a fact and went to turn, only to find Embry blocking my way.

He sighed. "Look, there's something I need to tell you. You can't go to the hospital because-"

Emily's entrance in the room cut him off while she spoke. "I brought you a bucket dear, though I couldn't find my washcloth anywhere."

And for some strange, unbelievable reason, that one little sentence made me so angry that I wanted to spit. Red, hazing fury took me over and my shaking body locked paths with Emily. The bucket dropped to the ground with a clatter as she took a step back, Sam placing himself in front of her. "No. Washcloth." I replied in a hard, monotone voice. "No _fucking_ washcloth?!" I screamed.

My limbs and aching muscles started to spasm, my vision blurred and my body twisted. I was halfway to Emily before I was pushed and pulled out the door and into the backyard's twining forest. My trembling self situated under a tree, in view of Embry and Sam. "The reason you can't go to the hospital is because you're turning into a werewolf." Sam said.

I laughed, it hurt my throat and it sounded angry. "You're a bunch of crazies. I'm not even Quileute, I can't turn into a werewolf unless I have pure blood running through my veins." But the more I denied it, the more I thought about it. Which came together to make sense. The boys shook like this when they were angry, about to phase. Seth described his transformation to me, telling me about the muscle pains and the flu like symptoms. He explained that it was your immune system and your body getting ready for the changes to come.

That made me forget about all my sudden anger. I repressed it back into the deep, dark corner of my brain and took deep breaths to calm myself and stop myself from shaking. It was surprisingly working. I curled my throbbing knees to my chest and curled in a tight ball, rocking until all the anger was gone. I was in control and calm, able to look at my cousin and the alpha wolf. Soon to be _my _Alpha wolf.

"I will not phase. I will not phase." I repeated under my breath, rapidly like shallow breathing.

Embry crouched down in front of me. "Don't fight it." He told me in a firm voice. "Just let the anger in you loose. Or I'm going to have to do something I will probably regret." Being ignorant, stubborn and terrified, I turned my head the other way and ignored him.

Suddenly, he slapped me. A hard blow across the cheek. I turned back to him, shocked. "Get mad." He told me, shoving me so that I fell onto my back. "Get fucking mad you bitch." The harsh words that spat at me like venom from my beloved cousin's mouth stunned me. It reminded me of being at home, with my dad. Instead of getting mad, I was terrified.

"Embry, what in the world are you doing?!" Sam shouted, jogging towards him.

Embry grunted. "I'm sorry Sam, it's the only way I can keep her from hurting anyone. Keeping it bottled up inside is dangerous. She could hurt someone like my mom, Meaghan or Emily." The thought of Emily being hurt again stopped Sam's protest mid speech as Embry continued to taunt me. "You _are _worthless aren't you? Just like you father said you were. He was right." His harsh words spun around in my head, jumbled. His hands grasped my shoulders and he squeezed a little too tight. "You're angry. Get mad."

I accidentally screamed on reflex, when his face got too close to mine. Embry knew his boundaries and just as he stepped off, a sandy coloured wolf shot at him from the right and tackled him to the ground. Seth snarled and growling in his face, looking so fierce and vicious that Embry almost looked afraid.

I jumped up and grabbed the back of Seth's tail. "Stop it!" I screamed. "You'll hurt him, get off!" My protests did nothing to control his actions, as his paw lifted to crush Embry's face.

"Seth, cool it." Sam ordered.

Suddenly, Seth's paws relaxed and he collapsed onto the ground right after Embry rolled out from underneath him. Embry glanced at me and narrowed his eyes in frustration of his failed attempt to make me angry. Of course I knew it wouldn't work, I was the master at repressing unpleasant feelings. I tipped my head in a curt nod. "I'm going back home to sleep. In my bed." I didn't make a single step before Sam grabbed my arm and pulled me back. At least I tried.

"Ashley, do you not understand what we've been trying to tell you? You are a danger to the human race right now, it's not safe for you to be around anyone who you could harm in a sudden burst of hidden anger." Sam chided me sternly. I nodded in resignation and rolled my eyes once before sitting back on the ground.

Seth whined, obviously he had no idea what was going on. "Phase Embry, show him what's going on." Sam's order again. He seemed to be doing that a lot.

Embry opened his mouth to protest. "I don't want to be the one to tell him that his girlfriend's going to turn into a werewolf!" He whined and suddenly clapped a hand over his mouth. "Oops." Seth's large, puppy dog eyes locked with mine and all the feelings I had from our fight poured over the tops and I started to cry again.

It was too early for all this, I hadn't slept all night. He started barking at me and I managed a half sob laugh. "I can't understand what you're saying, doofus." I told him, stroking his desert coloured fur as he laid down beside me. "I don't speak wolf yet." He whined and ducked his head down. "Aw, it's not that bad. We can run patrols together, read each other's minds, hunt down sadistic vampires, I can meet the Cullen's and I can finally know the pack business! It'll be a bucket of sunshine and werewolf fur!"

He rolled his eyes, got up and trotted into the forest. Like two minutes later, he jogged back in a pair of sweats and swept me up into his lap. "Ha ha, Miss. Sarcastic. You won't be killing any vampires, sadistic or not, until you're thirty."

"Okay father." I mock saluted him as he pulled his face to mine and kissed me.

"Mmm." He mumbled. "I am definitely _not_ your father."

I laughed and snuggled my face into the crook of his neck. "That you're not. But I love you all the same."

"You know I love you too." He whispered into my ear. "Always." And that right there, was our silent apology. No words of remorse needed to be spoken, because we never felt the need to have to say we were sorry out loud. We just knew, we would always know.

Until Embry coughed, loudly I may add. "As much as the make up moment is touching, blah blaaaaaah blah and all that crap, I'm about to puke. Or die. That's still my cousin Seth, I have every right to punch you in the face for kissing her in front of me." I giggled and kissed Seth under the jaw before laying my head against his chest and closing my eyes. His face went into my hair and I heard him inhale. Embry groaned. "You guys are so much worse than Sam and Emily."

All my anger was forgotten, even though my bones were still aching. I couldn't believe how much being around Seth had calmed my nerves down. I laughed, a bit breathlessly. "My life is turning into a Shakira song." Luckily, I had successfully removed all the awkward tension around here and everything seemed to relax after we had a good laugh.

As we all sat around, I heard a sharp ringing. When Sam pulled out a cell phone I had to laugh, because he was the last person I expected to pull out a pink phone. "It's Emily's phone." He told me through clenched teeth.

"Sure." I told him, still laughing. He rolled his eyes in annoyance, but when the person on the other line started talking, his look sober up. He was up on his feet and walking away from us in a second. We all shared confused and worried glances. "That's bad isn't it?"

Seth kissed my hair lovingly and Embry patted my knee. "Sweetheart, you worry way too much." Seth commented teasingly. I stuck my tongue out at him and laughed. I guess I really did worry too much, but a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach told me something was wrong.

Sam's grim face agreed with me when he came back in view. The part that scared me most was that his eyes were locked on my face. "Sam?" I asked, shakily getting to my feet. Then, I was horrified. He tucked his arm under my elbow, pulled me towards him by the arm and crushed me against his chest. His arms constricted around me with tight force and he slightly rocked me side to side.

"Hands off Sam, I'm starting to get jealous." Seth joked. But Sam looked at him for a split second before ignoring him and hugging me once more.

I pushed away, my ever growing pre werewolf strength kicking in. "What's going on? You're scaring me."

"I have some good news." He said. "Then I have some bad news, and some more bad news."

I sighed. "Good news first."

"Meaghan knows our secret." He said so quickly and low that I almost didn't hear him. But my newfound senses kicked in and I did.

Happily, I wrapped my arms awkwardly around his tall, broad shoulders in a spontaneous hug. I drew back as quickly as it had begun, running a hand through my hair. Cue awkward coughs from everyone. "The bad news?"

"Happiness with werewolves always comes with a price." He muttered cryptically. "Jacob's gone." I snorted, that was bad news? I vaguely saw Seth and Embry jump up in my peripheral vision. Well so maybe it was bad to them but I was inwardly rejoicing. Then, he finished talking. "And Meaghan's in the hospital."

Then I lost it. All my well pent up frustration and anger blew up inside me. My vision turned red and hazy, my mouth opening to release the most guttural, inhuman growl I had ever heard from my vocal box. My body started shaking like earlier, only faster and more uncontrollable. All my previous efforts had gone to waste as my joints and limbs cracked, twisted, moved and groaned. A sharp, squeezing pain ran through my whole body in that last second as it took over another shape.

In the blink of an eye, I was standing on four paws and snarling in Sam's face.

**A/N: Anyone want to try to guess my word of the week? Get it right and you get a sneak peek of the next chapter!**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: Here it is, the long awaited chapter. Ashley finds out what happens to Meaghan, has her first run in with the vampires, finds out about Emily, Sam and Leah and Embry finds out who his father is. A longer author's note at the bottom.**

It had all happened so fast, one second I was human and the next I was something completely different. Everything was a bit brighter, I could sense everything around me. Yet there were little buzzing noises filling my ears that I couldn't quite decipher. There was only thing on my mind, my animalistic side was taking over.

Attack. And win.

I forgot who I was mad at and why, only that there was a direct target standing right in front of me with his palms spread upwards, like he was directing traffic. _Sam._ My teeth bared in disgust, my body ready to pounce. He was circling me, like _I_ was _his_ prey.

Oh no Sam, you have it all wrong. I coiled and sprang, successfully hitting my target and blowing him full force into a tree. It fell to the ground with a big thud and Sam wiggled out from underneath me. Sooner than later, I was standing eye to eye with a large, black wolf.

Alpha, he was my alpha. I tucked my tail between my legs and jerked my head to the right. I think I had sent Seth into shock, he was staring at the tree where I had originally phased, back to me, one foot in front of the other. Embry had his hands clapped together under his chin and he was smiling broadly.

_Well Ashley,_ Sam thought. _Welcome to the pack. _I gave him a wolfish grin, lopsided with my tongue hanging out. An image filled my head of a white wolf with shaggy long hair and black paws that looked like socks were drawn on and a black tipped tail. Was that.. Is that me?

_It is._ Sam answered. It, well I, was a smaller wolf than Sam but bigger than Leah I hoped. I wanted something to brag in her face.

_Well this has been great fun and all, but how do I change back? _I asked. He told me to relax, picture me doing something I loved as a human. I pictured Seth and I in his living room, playing a game of NASCAR on his TV with the soft noises of Sue tinkering in the background. When I came back into conscious, I was still a wolf. _Sam, it's not working!"_

_You're frustrated._ He told me. _Calm is the only way to do it._ I couldn't achieve calm though, there was something annoying tugging at the back of my mind. I mentally tried to force my way through the invisible barrier and when I did, I wish I could turn back.

I saw the whole scene. Meaghan showing up at Jacob's and trying to get him to talk to her. I could see them both getting angry, though I couldn't hear anything. Then he was shaking, so fast that it almost gave me a headache. I silently screamed at my sister to move back, to do something. But she did nothing. There was nothing she _could _do, she didn't know she was in danger.

His head twitched back and forward, shaking spastically. Meaghan took a step towards him instead of back and placed a hand on his arm just as he lost it. I watched in horror as Jacob Black transformed into a wolf, sickeningly slashing her across the stomach. Her eyes silently haunted mine, filled with shock as she fell backwards on to the ground, blood pulsing out of her wounds. You could see into her stomach, it was unnatural. It made me want to be sick. It was a quiet shock, before her piercing screams filled the air, ringing in my ears.

Then the picture was gone and my mind was absolutely silent. Then I heard it, Jacob was headed for the Canadian borderline. _You're a dead man, Jacob Black._ Then I turned back into the forest and pumped my legs as fast as they could go, whizzing around the trees like they were invisible.

I could still smell his scent, the faint trail that he'd left behind almost an hour ago. As much as he tried, he couldn't block the thoughts of the trail he'd followed to where he was and I matched his mental pictures with my own sights.

People had phased, I could hear their voices somewhere in my mind that was almost out of focus. I was tuned into Jacob, watching his every move. The other wolves were somewhere behind me, I could hear the pounding of paws chasing after me and I realised with sweet triumph that I was faster then they were, meaning I was probably faster than Jacob.

Hopefully that meant I could catch up with him so I could turn him into a pork chop and be back to visit Meaghan before it got too late. _Ashley._ Seth's voice called me, though it was fuzzy, they were still getting closer into my circle of concentration. _Come back, hurting Jake won't solve anything!_

Oh yes it will, I disagreed to myself, willing to go faster.

_Ashley Monaghan, you stop this instant and come back home!_ Sam. His voice was hard and full of authority. There was something about that command that made me slow down and drag my feet forward, as if an elastic band was forcing me back against my will.

I growled, I didn't listen to what Sam Uley told me to do before, so what was so different about now? As soon as I made that decision, the rubber band snapped and I pulled forward to my fastest again. _I don't take orders from you, Sam._

Amazement and shock, I could feel everyone's emoticons surrounding me. _She's definitely got Alpha blood in her. _It was Embry who made this assessment, surprisingly enough. He'd been oddly silent before.

Then I lost focus, I could smell him. I was getting closer, the sweet taste of vengeance was melting into my mouth and I pushed myself harder and searched for him frantically. I caught a trail and went to follow it, when a small, gray wolf loped around me from the side and tackled me. _You can't do this right now, Ashley. _It was Leah, I should have known. She was small, smaller than me thank goodness.

Rage. My eyes and head were filled with pure anger. I wanted him, I wanted my prey so I could drag him off and slowly tear him open. I'd savagely rip apart his stomach, just like he did to my sister. Unlike her, he wouldn't be so lucky. I'd kill him. I'd kill the motherfucker.

And Leah was in my way. Snarling fury sent a course of strength rippling through my muscles and I flung her off me so fast that her head was a spinning whirlwind of confusion. I struggled onto my feet and then I was knocked back down again.

Black fur. I growled and thrashed, Sam was always getting in the way of my hunt. _ENOUGH!_ He shouted. And without warning, my body stopped struggling. All of my weight disappeared and I fell onto my stomach with exhaustion. Well, apparently I do take orders from Sam.

The rest of them had phased back, Leah, Seth and Embry. Leah had someone's phone held up to her ear and was talking rapidly into the mouthpiece. _Relax._ Sam cooed me gently. _Just relax Ash, keep your cool._

And when my body showed signs of phasing back to human, Sam's wolf form politely got up and nudged the other boys into the bushes. I was grateful, I didn't really want my cousin to see me buck naked.

It was just Leah and I, who was off the cell and throwing me a yellow sundress. "Easiest piece of clothing to wear after phasing. Take it from me, go buy some. That one's only a lend out." I threw it on, feeling awkwardly exposed by going commando underneath it. "It takes a while, but you get used to the weirdness."

I got off the ground, brushing dirt off my knees and picking twigs out of my hair. I stood next to Leah, realising that I was about an inch taller than her 5'9 frame. When in the world did that happen? I looked at my arms and legs, seeming surprised when they looked toned. "What in the great heavens of all that is holy?" I asked as I peeked down the front of the dress and caught the top of a tenderly growing six pack.

"Overnight body growth. Don't worry, the worst is over. Except about your hair.." I grabbed it with one hand and frowned when she continued. "We'll have to cut it."

I fell to my knees dramatically. "_Nooo! _Not my hair, please!" She glared at me and I caved. "Fine." I looked at my silky, long brown locks for the last time and sniffled. "I'll miss you."

"You're a drama queen. Now come on, we're going back to Sam's." She tugged my arm and I let her drag me easily, stopping only when we reached the back porch of the Uley's. "What's wrong now?"

I shook my head. "I'm not trying to get out of the pack meeting or anything, but could you guys like postpone it for an hour or something? The first thing I need to do is make sure Meaghan's okay, she's my top priority."

Leah sighed impatiently. "All right, might as well. Sophie was the one who went with her in the ambulance, she was the first person Jake could think of to help. Mom told me that she was worrying about where you and Embry had run off to in the middle of the night. You might as well explain it to her when you get back." She looked at me and grimaced. "Well, Emily will help you get cleaned up before you go _anywhere_."

"Thanks." I muttered, entering the front door where Emily hugged me to the best of her ability and promised that she'd keep the secret until I got back so that I could tell them. She led me upstairs to a little cubby hole in the hallway where she kept extra clothes for the boys just in case, took me to Leah's little section and passed me a pair of gray sweats and a black t-shirt. I had a quick shower and threw my soaked hair up in a ponytail. Leah was right, this rat nest had to go.

I kept my eyes on the floor as I silently followed Leah downstairs to meet Embry at the door, who'd stopped at home to get my flip flops. Sam was going to let him borrow his truck to get us down to Forks hospital, the only place close enough with intensive care. I didn't know where Seth went, I couldn't even bring myself to care right now.

I noticed that Embry's careful driving was long passed and we were narrowly avoiding cars, swerving and jerking and speeding. The speedometer was inching towards 110 and oddly enough, it didn't even feel fast. I even rolled down the window to get the feeling of wind in my hair, but it didn't help. I missed being a wolf. He seemed to know what I was thinking. "Being a wolf is a great feeling, isn't it?" He asked, speeding easily down the main road.

"It's new." I told him, watching the trees slowly move by. "I feel like… my whole life has just been turned on slow motion. I feel like a monster, Embry. Is that what I am? Something to prowl around at night, be made into a joke in Hollywood? Something to haunt people in their nightmares? Is that my only purpose in life, because that's _shit._"

Embry sighed. "It's times like these I wish Seth was here. Listen to me, you are not a monster." I opened my mouth to argue. "Don't even deny it, you are _not _a vampire Ashley. Therefore, you are not a monster. You protect the human race, you are a good person. You are a _person_, in the most sense." Then he laughed. "Crap. Well, looks like your going to have your first vampire run in."

We'd pulled into the hospital parking lot and I was confused. There was a slightly rotten smell in my nose, like cough medicine or something. Ironically, I coughed. The closer we got to the doors, the stronger it got. "What the _hell_ is that?" I choked.

"That, my dear, would be the delicious smell of a nasty bloodsucker. Apparently Doctor Fang is working the day shift today." He sniffed the air again. "And the mind reader's here too I guess, helping him out."

I froze, a growl coming out of my throat in the elevator we were currently standing in. "I don't know… I can't… What if I can't handle this?" I laughed nervously as the elevator went up, dinging with each floor we passed. "I've been a wolf for all of what, an hour?" People started to load in on the next floor and I kept quiet for the rest of the ride.

We stopped at another floor and this time Embry got out, I followed him quietly. The smell was getting stronger, it was suffocating my whole respiratory system and making it hard to breathe. I was having trouble controlling the new, wilder side of my instincts and I was almost ready to run across the hall, crouch down and growl. Embry wrapped a tight arm around my waist just as I was about to slip into my crouch and whispered in my ear, "No marking your territory, Ashley. Don't pee on any carpets today."

I smacked his arm. "You are seriously an idiot." And then I heard them, smelt them and wanted to attack them all at the same time. My mind was overwhelmed, the red rage was screaming at me in my head. _Vampire!_ It was like a red alert. Two very pale figures walked down the hallway towards us, noses crinkled in the same way, not visible to the normal human beings. The normal people, I used to be one an hour ago.

"Embry, pleasure to see you again." The blonde male said, stretching out his pale hand. Embry shook it, openly showing his disgust. He wiped it on his shorts like it would actually do something for him. He turned to me. "Now who's your friend? Is she one of you?" He seemed shocked.

The other one, slightly smaller with bronze hair murmured under his breath, "She is. Her mind is a whirlwind of confused thoughts, animalistic warnings and newfound senses. She's new."

I cocked my head to the side, thoroughly confused. Embry seemed more annoyed, he glanced at Edward with irritated eyes and addressed the doctor. "This is my cousin, Ashley. She's Meaghan's sister. And she's with Seth."

"Ah." He turned to me, a polite smile on his face. "Hello, it's a pleasure. I'm Carlisle Cullen, this is my son Edward." Carlisle's hand was still outstretched, just angled towards me. I placed my hand in his, flinching outwardly at the frozen ice of his palm. My hand twitched and trembled when it was released and Embry grabbed it with his own and held it to my side before anything rash could happen. "I think you may have met his fiancée, Bella Swan."

Images from the night at the bonfire flooded my mind and Edward flinched at the same time I did. "Yes, we were recently acquainted. My sister is her… friend Jacob's imprint."

Embry butted in, seeing this conversation take a turn for the worst. "How is she?"

"Can we see her?" I added.

"I'm afraid not." Carlisle told me in a gentle voice. He was patronizing me, my eyes narrowed. "The claws lacerated her liver and she's undergoing emergency surgery right now. She'll be in the ICU after for two days, then she'll be in regular care for a week. Maybe longer, if the liver shows signs of swelling or her wounds from the attack get infected."

My mind shut down and my knees buckled, Embry caught me just in time, arms helping me stay steady. Surgery? I closed my eyes. "Jacob Black is a goner." I shook. My body twitched and shivered, my spine was hot. I couldn't even register the fact that I was about to phase in a hospital. There was no forest near here, I had no place to hide.

Embry came up with a fast solution, I was impressed. He pushed me backwards into an elevator, slammed his hands on all the buttons to jam it and pulled off my sweats and shirt before I phased. He'd backed up into a far corner as I exploded, filling up most of the elevator. I growled and thrashed, accidentally kicking the panel and watching the electric circuit spark.

"This was a bad idea." He murmured. I looked up at him and nudged him with my snout. "Sam's going to kill you, probably me too, when he finds out what happened today. I shouldn't have let you interact with them." He brushed a hand over my head. "Now try and phase back."

It didn't take long. But before, I glanced up at Embry and dramatically covered my eyes with my paw. He got the hint and dropped my clothes on the floor before turning around and hiding his face in the corner. I relaxed and calmed myself, in fact if I was any calmer, I would have been dead. Just like the vamps. I phased back, finally standing back on two feet and getting my clothes back on.

"We should go home." He told me, pulling a cell phone out of his jean shorts pocket and calling the emergency number listed on the side of the elevator. "You'll just have to come back tomorrow sometime after we take you out on your first patrol lesson. You're going to need a lot of training, newbie."

I sighed. "Can I go home and see my boyfriend now?"

He looked at me for a split second and broke out laughing. "In a half an hour, you are going to be a victim of a new form of slavery. Enjoy your freedom while it lasts." And then apparently the person on the other line answered and he looked away from me to start talking.

I sat on the ground, my arms crossed self consciously over my chest because of the fact that my bra had torn while I was phasing and I did not have any boob coverage, thinking about what he had just said. It took me the whole fifteen minutes that we waited for assistance to get us out of the elevator, the five minutes to get to the car and the whole half an hour drive home for me to get what he meant, even with the newly improved brain cells in my head working a mile a minute.

Because when we got back to Sam and Emily's for the pack meeting, everyone was scattered around the house waiting for us. But the first people I noticed were Seth and Leah, together at the kitchen table. Leah glanced over at the door seemingly by habit and did a double take when she saw us walk in. So I walked over there and when Seth lifted his head, I locked eyes with him and opened my mouth to say something when I was frozen in place.

Time literally seemed to stand still, it was like the whole world that was created in my eyes had crumbled to dust and gravity ceased to exist. It was like nothing was actually real until I looked into his eyes. Then I tripped over the peg of the kitchen chair and went sprawling to the ground, elbows up to break my fall.

Instead of automatically getting up and playing it cool, I snatched my body and soul away from Seth's eyes to throw my hands over the back of my head and bury my face flat against the hardwood floor of the kitchen and moaned. Embry was talking about imprinting.

"Ashley?" Leah asked, kneeling beside my head. "What- are you alright?"

"Mrphhrndfph." I mumbled, feeling really embarrassed and stupid. She sighed and grabbed my arm, hauling me up off the ground and on to my feet. My face darkened and I ducked my head to avoid Seth's eyes, who was unabashedly laughing out loud at my predicament. "Shut up, I hate you." I told him and my whole body tightened in protest at my words.

He laughed even louder and stood up to wrap his big, warm arms around me, which actually were not that big or warm to me anymore. "It's life changing isn't it?" He murmured, pressing his face into my hair to kiss it, which he could actually reach without bending down. The top of my head was located right in the middle of his neck.

"It's a weird feeling, knowing that your soul mate is standing right in front of you. It's one thing to be told about it, it's another to experience it for yourself." I tilted my head back and stood up a little bit straighter so that I was able to kiss him.

He smiled against my mouth. "Everyone's downstairs."

"So?"

"This whole meeting is about you, after all." He reminded me, taking my hand and leading me into the tiny one room basement. It seemed very crowded and Kim and Emily were both kind of smashed around in between giants, looking a little bit like they were going to die of heatstroke. Seth sat on the last spot on the couch next to Sam, and I sat on the floor between his legs and his hands came up to play with my hair. Leah took the spot to my left and surprisingly took my hand into hers, grabbing it firmly.

I snuck a glance at her and she smiled at me in a newfound respect sort of way. I had to admit, it made sense. We were both in the same predicament.

I glanced around, the atmosphere was sullen. Quil looked like he was going to keel over, die and then burst out crying. But he was attempting to keep on his happy face and his upbeat attitude for the young girl with the dark brown curls and ribbons that was sitting in his lap, who I assumed to be Claire. Emily told me she was taking a babysitting job for her sister, who had recently gotten a new job.

Paul and Jared both looked unaffected personally, but were down because their brothers (and sister) were upset. Kim was sympathetic, rubbing Jared's hand. Sam looked extremely frustrated and tired, he must have been stressed out beyond belief. All the annoyance I felt for him flew out the window as I took in his haggard face. Emily had tears in her eyes, saddened at the temporary loss of a brother and the injury of another potential wolf girl.

I finally noticed that Embry had the same expression as Quil. Wow, he really is good at fooling me. Collin and Brady, well, they weren't here. I'm assuming Sam had them out running the area, because they were so new and they kind of kept to themselves. I'm sure they'd be caught up later, they were still apart of this family.

Family, I'd heard the word thrown around with the guys so many times in the short time I'd known them. I never really thought anything of it, family really was a foreign concept for me. Now, I was part of the family in a deeper way than imprinting had brought me. I felt love, encouragement, trust, hope and a sense of belonging fill my heart as I looked around at everyone here.

Then Sam cleared his throat. "I'm sure you've all heard about Jacob and Meaghan today. But, there's more news."

Quil finally spoke up. "Really? What else could go wrong today, Sam? Did the filthy Cullen vampires massacre all of our fucking families too?"

"_Quil!_ Language!" Emily snapped from her spot next to Sam, eyeing Claire meaningfully. Quil ran a hand over his drooping eyes and quietly apologized to her.

The atmosphere got even more stressed. "This isn't necessarily bad news." Sam continued. "It appears that our pack isn't finished growing, and we officially have our eleventh member." And as if it had just occurred to the people who hadn't known, their eyes all flickered to my now 5'10, toned body and my lack of a bra. Which was embarrassing, so I took my hand from Leah's and crossed my arms again while she giggled. I looked over and she subtly mouthed the words '_I know'_ to me.

"I guess the day had been so tense that no one really figured that one out. Welcome to the pack Ash." Quil said to me, smiling a genuine smile. Everybody said pretty much the same thing, smiling and telling me how nice it'd be having me around more often.

Then Kim asked me, "You imprinted on Seth right? So does that make it a double imprint?" I nodded and she smiled a blinding white smile, which made Jared look up at her in awe. "That's really good news guys. You do know what that means, right?"

"No, not really." Embry answered.

She rolled her eyes at him, as if he was completely retarded. "That means that everyone's theories were wrong. It's not impossible for girls to imprint, they're not defective or genetic flukes. They are just as much a wolf as you guys are, which means that Leah can and probably will imprint some day."

For some reason, this excited me. I wrapped my arms around Leah and hugged her. "This is great!" I exclaimed.

She glanced at me with angry, haunted eyes. "No."

"What?"

"I said _no!_ Imprinting ruined my fucking life, being a wolf ruined my life. You think I asked for this? You think I wanted to give my father a heart attack, get dumped by the love of my life and be a mutant genetic freak? I will _not_ be controlled by imprinting. You may think it's great, but I think it's shit!" Then she got up and stormed up the stairs. We heard the front screen door slam shut and soon after, a long, haunted howl pierced the air.

I flinched, a delayed reaction. Then my eyebrows furrowed as I tried to make sense of her speech. I knew her father had died, but what was she talking about when she said getting dumped by the love of her life? I cocked my head up to Seth, who mouthed a later to me.

I glanced up at Sam, he looked guilty and upset. Emily looked like she was going to bawl. Ten seconds later, she ran out of the room crying and Sam got up after her. Awkward silence.

"Well, that was interesting." Paul announced, standing up. "I haven't actually seen their little love triangle feud in a while, I personally find it entertaining. But I'm out, I got a hot date later." And he was gone.

Seth was the next one to get up and attempt to leave. I panicked, an odd thing for me to do, and grabbed on to his ankle before he could walk away. He looked down at my wide eyes with a bemused expression. "Where are you going?!"

"I should probably go find Leah and calm her down. I'm hoping she's at our house and not in wolf form, I don't really feel like trying to decipher her crazy thoughts today. Go home and get some rest sweetheart, you look beat. Eat something too and if I don't come by tonight, I'll come see you bright and early in the morning to start your training." He leant down onto his knees, took my face in his hands and pressed his own lips to mine.

Hormones, raging hormones grew inside of me and I opened my mouth and clutched at his elbows feverishly. His forehead tipped to mine and he broke the kiss, slightly shaking his head at me. "I love you. Stay safe and get some sleep honey." He kissed my head.

Then he got up and loped away as I whispered, "I love you too," a little too late. Kim, from across our awkward circle, smiled at me with understanding. My stomach clenched, it felt wrong to be away from him. I decided to occupy myself. "Well, this has been a weird and awkward day and I'm going to go chill. Catch you tomorrow." I waved and left.

The last thing I saw was Claire trying to place a ribbon in Quil's buzz cut, making me laugh. I wanted to run home as a wolf, the need for speed was so tempting. But I didn't feel like walking from the woods into my house naked. So I ran home, at a pace that even a human could keep up without breaking a sweat.

Sophie ambushed me when I got home, hugging me as best as she could and rambling how sorry she was. "You're huge! And warm." She put her forearm on my forehead. "Do you have a fever?"

I laughed, because even when her son had the same symptoms, she still couldn't figure it out. "Aunt Sophie, I'm a _real_ wolf girl now."

She stopped talking and fussing, looking at me in amazement. "But, what? You can't- You're not Quileute."

"Apparently I've been lied to my whole life. Not that I'm disappointed, no one really wants that scum bag for a father anyway. I am curious though." I grimaced. "Aunt Sophie, whose Embry's father?" She looked at me with these wide eyes that told me I went too far. "I'm sorry, that was out of line."

She shrugged. "No, it really wasn't. I guess you and Embry are in the same predicament, huh? I suppose it's time to stop protecting myself and others and tell the truth. Sit down, sweetheart. It's a long story."

So I sat on the couch and listened to my aunt rant about how she used to be a raging alcoholic and one day, she woke up next to Billy Black. Eight weeks later, she found out she was pregnant. "So Embry and Jacob are half brothers then." I was in shock. The mystery that had haunted Embry for so long was finally revealed and even if I knew it was coming, it was still a shock. Jacob was going to freak out. That was my first thought, my second thought was that I felt bad for him. His father, no matter how accidental, had cheated on his mother without her knowing and now she's dead. "Sophie I'm so sorry, but I don't know how long this is going to be a secret. I mean, with the pack mind and me not being able to control my thoughts.."

"Honey, do you think I'd tell you if I wanted to keep it a secret?" She told me soothingly, hand on my arm. "Embry was the one person I was never able to keep secrets from and now the only one I had managed to keep is finally going to be released. He'll probably be furious at me."

I smiled at her. "Embry loves you dearly, Aunt Sophie. He'll just need a little time. But, I don't think he'd appreciate it if I was the one who told him. I'll go get him and bring him back here."

I ran all the way back to Sam's to bring him home and sat in the living room while I openly listened to Sophie and Embry's discussion in the kitchen. I flinched when he yelled and felt guilty when she cried. I watched him storm from the kitchen to the front door, stop and look at me, then turn around to sit with me.

He shook his head. "I never wanted to find out." Then he cried into my shoulder and I held him and cried myself.

We cried for Meaghan and Jacob and Leah, Sophie and Billy and we cried for ourselves and each other. We cried until twilight arrived as the stress of the day weighed down on our shoulders. Seth never came back.

**A/N: Sorry about the wait on my other story, I've been thinking about it and I can't really get my brain moving to finish the next chapter. I may be putting it on hiatus for a little bit, until I get my crap together and actually sit down to finish it. This story is a lot easier for me, I've had the plot and ideas for what's going to happen along the way in my head for a long time, Meaghan and I have been planning this out for almost a year. So that's that.**

**Ive been helping my friend move this weekend, getting over a long bought of mononucleosis, catching up on missed work and I've just been a busy bee. Hoping you understand!**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: Bonjour everyone! How is everyone lately? I've been alright, just chilling. **

**Did anyone see New Moon? Well… That's a dumb question, but did you like it? What was your favourite part? (:**

"Ashley?" Someone was shaking me. I moaned, swatting their hand away and rolling over. "_Ashley!"_

I squeezed my eyes shut. "What?" I groaned. They were silent. I heard soft breathing and a beating heart, the sound was soothing and my body lulled into a relaxed position. I listened to the steady drumming as my mind slowly drifted into sleep mode…

Then, someone's lips were on mine. I shot up like a rocket, head clunking into something solid and falling back. I heard a muffled laugh, smothered by something. A hand maybe? The same lips came down on my neck and I pushed their head away. "_Seth?!_" I hissed.

Sure enough, there he was, crouched overtop of me with his hands on either side of my head, smirking. "Well hello to you too, Mrs. Sunshine."

I rolled my head over to glance at the clock to my left. The flashing numbers stared me in the face. "I don't think anyone is cheery at _three in the fucking morning!_ What are you doing here, Seth? No, _how_ did you get in here?"

"Well how else?" He asked. By habit, I glanced at the window across the room which was still latched shut. He snorted. "I came in through the front door silly." He kissed my nose. "I didn't get to come back, and I missed you."

"You couldn't miss me until the morning?"

"It is the morning." I glared at him. "Alright, alright. Technically it _is_ the morning, but I understand what you mean. I'm sorry, I'll leave."

He ducked in to quickly kiss my forehead and did a skilled back flip off my bed. I rolled my eyes once in annoyance and watched him with remorseful eyes as he grabbed the doorknob. I paused. "Wait…" He turned around with the biggest, saddest puppy dog eyes I have ever seen and my face fell. "You can stay."

His face lit up and he bounded back over and onto my bed, landing on top of me. His lips landed on mine with profound accuracy and my arms automatically reached up and wounded around his neck. "I love you." He kissed me once. "I love you." Again. "I love you."

"Just be quiet, okay? If Embry catches you, I'm dead." I was back in my old room now, seeing as Meaghan was in the hospital. I felt bad taking over his room, I tried sleeping on that couch once and I woke up with a stiff neck. So he was sleeping in the room right next to mine.

He smiled. "Relax, Embry sleeps like the dead. Promise. Would I get you in trouble?"

"Yes." I replied automatically, a hint of a smile hitting my groggy, tired face. "And I love you too." He kissed me again and rolled off of me, hitting the floor and bouncing up. He pushed the other single bed over and smashed it right up against mine. "What are you doing?"

He gave the bed one last push with a parting grunt and hopped onto it, head propped up on the wall behind him, pulling me over and into his arms so that I was on top of _him._ "Well, I don't think we can both fit in a single bed to sleep, so I pulled this one over. To be more comfortable."

"Absolutely not." I argued and he hit me with the puppy face. I looked away. "Don't even try that on me, Seth. When I said you could stay, I didn't mean all night. Go home and sleep in your own bed."

"But…" His lips was quivering, I could hear it in his voice. "I don't want to leave. I want to stay here with you."

I sighed. "You can't." Then I made the mistake of looking. He had tears in his eyes, _real tears._ I groaned and let my head fall forward so that it landed on his chest, which was bare, with a thump. I lifted my hand to pull my hair out of the messy bun atop of my head, shaking it out and scratching it. "Fine. But you need to _sleep_, okay?" I squirmed out of his hold onto my side of the makeshift double bed and rolled onto my side.

His arm wrapped around my stomach and pulled me into his chest again. My heavy eyelids drooped and I shut my eyes, content with being held as I drifted off to sleep. "So what's the best thing about being a wolf?" He asked me suddenly.

I turned over and punched him with all my strength in the arm. He winced and I glared at him. "Being able to do that. Now _sleep_, Seth."

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "I love you."

I meant to say it back, but it probably came out as gibberish as my breathing evened out and I drifted out of consciousness.

---

Morning, the _real_ morning, came in a confusing whirlwind. I was not in my bed, I knew that for sure when I stretched out. I was placed in a diagonal position and I know that my single bed would toss me off if I did that.

I was also uncomfortable, the big lump that was underneath my stomach was probably the cause of it. After I had gotten over my delirious state, I raised my head to see where I was.

I was indeed in my room, but the beds were pushed together and Seth was sprawled out on them. I was stretched out across his body, my stomach placed on his chest. Our legs were tangled below, blanket included. It was settled, I was never sharing a bed with anyone ever again.

The fact that it was only eight in the morning bothered me, because I was exhausted. But too uncomfortable to sleep, I raised myself off the bed and to the floor with grace, so I didn't stir Seth around. I was annoyed with him, but not too much. He was so peaceful laying on my bed, his eyes were closed and he had drool coming out of the side of his mouth. His face, which had a ghost of a smile on it before, had turned into a frown and he looked unsettled.

I settled for crossing my legs and sitting at the edge of the bed to watch him sleeping. His previously relaxed position became anxious and worried, his hands seemingly inched around as if he were looking for something.

His eyes flew open in a panic and he shot up, startling me. His head whipped from side to side and his gaze landed on me. Insert long breath here and huge arms grabbing me suddenly and crushing me into a chest. He peppered my face with little kisses and my gloomy, dull morning had very quickly gotten a little brighter. "Morning." He murmured.

"Unfortunately." I grumbled, my lips pressing to his collarbone. The sudden movement of footsteps up the creaky stairs made me stiffen and I shushed Seth.

"Ashley?" It was just Sophie. "I heard you awake so I wanted to let you know that breakfast is ready so come down if you're hungry." Which I was. I let out a gust of air and agreed. I thought she was gone until she added, "Seth too."

I glanced at him panicked, and he snickered at my face and yelled out a thanks to Sophie. "Did you really think she wouldn't notice?"

"Well, I was hoping." I grumbled and he pulled me off the bed by my hands. I tied my hair back in a bun and threw on a hoodie that was laying on the floor, crumpled. I was swung around and slammed hard against the wall.

"You are so beautiful." Seth murmured and his mouth forced open mine. Our tongues clashed and the feeling lit a fire in the pit of my stomach that wasn't there before. I was still shorter than him and he tucked his arms under my butt and lifted me so that my feet were dangling and he was holding my weight.

My legs wrapped around his sides and I arched my back so my chest pressed into his. Still pressed against the wall, I could feel his hand sliding up the back of my sweater and my heart stopped and picked up double time. His hand changed course and slid across my hip and to my stomach, up further. When he hit the under wire of my bra and started to inch his fingers under it, I pushed him away.

"Stop!" I gasped, kicking and struggling.

"Easy." He cooed, dropping me down to the floor gently. I fell and buried my head into my legs with slow, heavy breaths. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He apologized. "You're okay, I'm sorry."

His hands eased to comfort me, hesitating and trying to find the right spot. "No, no. It's- I'm alright. It's fine, I'm not- I just…" My words were stuttered, I felt like an idiot. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize to me, Ashley." He mumbled. "That's my fault, I shouldn't have done that."

I shook my head and blinked rapidly, trying to clear my head of really nasty images. "I'm so glad you're not in my head right now. There are things that I've done.. Things that I've experienced that I never want you to see. And I'm going to apologize because if I were normal, we could do…stuff."

"Normal? You're apologizing because you think you're not _normal?_"

"Well I'm not, am I?" I asked. "I have so many scars, emotional and physical. Normal people aren't afraid to let others get close to them. I'm a werewolf, Seth. A female werewolf. If that's not abnormal, then I don't know what is."

He paused. "You could be a vampire."

"Ick." I agreed.

He smiled. "Being normal is overrated anyway. Believe me, been there, done that, never going back." So he pulled me to my feet and gave me a sweet kiss before leading me downstairs. I flushed, Sophie's gaze was on me and it was knowing, teasing and cautious all at the same time. "Smells good Soph, I always loved your cooking."

She gave him a weary look and smiled at me. "I made you a big breakfast, I heard you were starting training today. You're going to need it."

I sat down and banged my head on the table repeatedly. "Damn, damn, damn. I hate vampires, I hate wolves, I hate supernatural beings. Damn, damn, damn." I groaned with baited breath, my sleepless night catching up with me. "Do I have to?" I sounded like a child.

"Sam's already going to kick my butt when he finds out I stayed here, I don't need another reason to prep my suicide. Besides, I think Leah is looking forward to spending a little girl time with you."

I paused. "Wait, you're not teaching me? What are you doing today then?"

He shrugged. "My mom wants to spend some quality time with me. Honestly I'm a bit scared." He smiled at me. "Besides, Leah's the only girl in the pack. It makes sense that she'd teach you. Sam'll be nearby though, in case something goes wrong."

"What would go wrong?"

He shrugged. "It took a lot of us a long time to control our phasing enough to go out in public. Paul was the longest, two weeks, but that's understandable. Embry made a mistake taking you out to the hospital yesterday, he's lucky nothing went wrong." I blushed and he trailed off. "Anyway, something might go wrong and you could go like bat shit crazy. So he's going to be on standby."

I wondered how Leah and Sam would fair a whole day together. Embry had told me what happened between the three of them and frankly, I was a little scared for my safety. Maybe Sam's too, Leah is lethal when she gets upset.

Ten prayers to God that she's over yesterday's incident.

I sighed, another day without Seth. "I'll miss you." I whispered, stretching my hands up to wrap around his neck and pull him down to the level I was at.

"I _always_ miss you." He teased, kissing me.

"Ugh." I heard someone from behind me. "This is what I get for coming down for breakfast. Days of our fucking lives." Embry. He walked passed us and smacked the back of Seth's head. "Sue's looking for you Seth, this is the first place I was told to look. You're in shit for not going home after patrol last night. And you," He looked at me. "Sam and Leah are looking for you. Wow, it's odd to say their names together."

He went on to happily munch on a huge plate of bacon. Seth offered me a piece. "No thanks." I declined. "I'm allergic to pork."

"What?!" They both shouted at me. "You can't eat bacon? Or ham? What about sausage?" Embry asked.

I shook my head. "No pork whatsoever. Well, unless my freaky werewolf mutant genetics turned my system out of whack. But I'd rather not test it, I never liked it anyway."

"It's a sad, sad day when you find out your soul mate can't eat the food of the Gods."

I snorted. "What God are you talking about exactly?"

"Me of course."

I shook my head. "Alright, I'm going to go start my long day of training before his head," I jerked my thumb to Seth. "Gets any bigger and I run out of air. Sam's place right?" Embry nodded. "Alright, bye boys!"

I threw on my shoes, ran out the door and stopped. It was raining, throwing down water in large buckets. I pushed my soaked bangs back out of my eyes and started on my jog down to Emily's. I took ten short steps and I heard echoes, I realised someone was following me.

My heart sped up and I turned around in a full circle just to be tackled onto the ground. I growled, it bubbled up in my throat and boiled over my trembling lips. My body was shaking in tremors. "Calm down wolf girl." The voice said. "I was just having fun."

I relaxed into annoyance. "You scared the human out of me, Quil. Now can you please get off of me?" Complaining was hard to do, Quil was much bigger than me and he was cutting off my airway. In a swift movement, we were both on our feet. "What are you up to today?"

"Emily's got errands to run and Sam's helping you with your training so I'm babysitting Claire." He had a stupid smile on his face. "She wants to meet you properly, she thinks your pretty." We had started jogging again.

I laughed. "She's truly adorable. By the way, you still have glitter in your hair from yesterday." He wiped his barely there hair frantically, looking flustered and embarrassed. "You really love her, don't you?"

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Do you love Seth? Does Sam worship Emily? Is Jared scarily obsessed with Kim? Of course I love her, how could I not? Just because it's a different kind of love, doesn't mean it's not real."

"I didn't mean it like that…" I whispered.

He sighed, running a hand over his face. "I know, I know you didn't. The guys all give me a hard time about it, it's a touchy subject for me." We jogged in silence for the rest of the way.

Emily's small little house wasn't packed with people like I thought it'd be. There were only two wolves there and Kim, along with Jared. I spotted Claire right away. She was sitting on the floor against the wall in a pair of jeans and turtle neck with her dark brown hair done up in braided pigtails. She had a white blanket clutched tightly in her hand, but she dropped it when she spotted Quil. His smile would have blinded me if the scene before me wasn't so adorable.

"Qwil!" She cried, flinging herself across the kitchen floor and tumbling. Quil, probably an expert in this category, expertly caught her before she face planted, swung her up into his arms and kissed her nose.

"Hey sweetheart." He murmured, watching her with fascinated eyes. "This is Ashley. She's a good friend of mine, do you remember her?"

I smiled as Claire looked up with her big brown eyes, shyly waving once and sticking two fingers in her mouth. "Hi there Claire. It's nice to meet you." I felt silly talking to her, thinking maybe she didn't understand me and Quil was going to laugh at me, but his face was serious.

To my surprise she nodded, just a slight bob of her head. "Yowr pwetty."

My face probably lit up with blush as Quil chuckled along with me. She ducked her head shyly into his shoulder and I brushed my hand over the length of her head once, moving her one pigtail over her shoulder. "Thank you honey."

I felt like I had just bonded with a two year old, another wolf girl, and I felt strangely accomplished. I spotted Emily. "Em, hey! Where's Sam?"

She turned to look at me with big eyes. "Uh, your training is postponed. Something came up, you can go back home."

"Emily." I grabbed her arm when she tried to walk away. "Look, you can't pull that crap with me anymore. I'm part of the pack now, what is going on?"

She sighed, glancing around at Kim who seemed completely oblivious to what was going on. Quil as well, looked very at ease unlike Jared, who was hunched in his seat stiffly, sort of like a crouch. She pulled me by the arm to the other room in the back corner. "Listen, I'm not supposed to tell you okay? Sam made me promise, but I think you have the right to know."

"Emily…"

"They're meeting up with the Cullen's at the border. Sam, Paul, Embry, Seth and Leah. Brady and Collin are patrolling the East and West ends of the perimeter, Jared's here to protect us and Quil doesn't know. I'm not supposed to tell him either, he can't be stressed out around Claire. You're not supposed to know because Seth didn't want you around the vampires so inexperienced."

"But that doesn't really answer my question, what's happening?"

She lowered her voice. "Vampires. A lot of them, inexperienced vampires too. There's a whole army of them, we think it's the redhead vampire's doing too. They're in Seattle, on a killing spree. We think it's a warning, that they're coming here next. They need our help to take them down."

"Coming for?"

She shrugged. "Bella Swan, who else?"

My eyes narrowed. "So my cousin, my best friend and my soul mate are meeting up with a bunch of filthy vampires to plan out their demise… for Bella Swan?" She nodded cautiously. "Not in this fucking lifetime." I didn't even apologize for swearing as my fists shook and I turned on my heel and ran.

"No! Ashley, where are you going?!"

"I'm sorry Emily!" I called back. "But I can't let that happen." I took off running full force into the woods and stripped off the sweater and shorts I was wearing, tying it onto the handy piece of black string around my ankle. I found it easy to phase, a lot easier than Seth said it would be. I sped up faster on four legs, my paws kicking up dirt behind me.

I could smell them, the trail that the five of them had left. I could make out their personal scents. Cinnamon, honeysuckle, pine, the smell of moss and forests. It was an easy trail to follow, five minutes fresh. I tried to keep my mind silent, as impossible as that sounds, as I crept up into a small opening where there was a divvy in the trees. There stood eight figures, seven vampires and one human. On the opposite side of the tree line stood my brothers and sister, all in human form.

Leah looked strongly uncomfortable.

The bronze haired one, Edward, the mind reader, glanced at the bush I was hidden in and looked back so quickly, it was unnoticed. I phased back into human and I watched my pack tilt their heads in sync, it was sort of creepy. I knew what they were hearing, the shimmer in the air that was almost silent.

Then I watched Seth groan. The others looked at him in confusion, but he knew. It was like if he was walking behind me or somewhere near me in a crowded street, I would feel his presence. "Come out here right now, young lady." He demanded in a hard voice.

Ah, busted. Never try to sneak around your imprint. I ducked my head and peered up at him from under my eyelashes, trying to master the innocent look as I walked forward to his side. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his side, lips at my ear. He could have been kissing me in greeting, but he was whispering rapidly in my ear. "I swear to God when this meeting is over, you are so dead. Why are you here? I just, I didn't want you here. Ugh, Emily why did you tell her?"

"I'm not a little girl, Seth." I hissed. "I'm not a scared, abused child that needs your protecting. You're a few years too late for that." He flinched. "Like it or not, I'm a part of this pack now. You can't keep stupid secrets from me anymore."

I yanked my arm out of his grasp and went to stand beside Leah. She glanced at me with eyes that clearly spelled relief, as if she was saying thank God you're here. The male doctor stretched his hand out, not moving his feet. "Ah, Ashley. Always a pleasure, though not on good circumstances again."

I knew Seth was eying me, probably waiting for me to flinch and avoid his hand, proving that I was a child. To me, this was a challenge. I never backed down from a challenge.

I stepped forward a few feet back to where I thought the boundary line would be and placed my hand in his, shaking it firmly. I had to force my face to stay in a polite form, only moving it to lift my mouth into a smile. "Dr. Cullen, nice to see you." I nodded to Edward. "Bella."

She was tucked under his arm, she looked like a frightened cat. "Hello." She squeaked. I rolled my eyes, what a bitch. Her master growled at me under his breath. _You know it's true._

"Anyway," Carlisle, always the peacekeeper. "We've come to discuss terms with you about this war that Alice believes is going to happen. We're not forcing you to do anything, we've merely come to _ask_ for your assistance. We're having some issues with our previous allies."

We didn't discuss our options, the chances of losing a brother or sister, our strategy or nothing. "We'll do it." Sam had said automatically. Seth nodded along with him, while Paul was always up for a fight.

Leah however, was not in agreement. "No way in hell, Sam. I'm not teaming up with the leeches. No fucking way, you can do this without me."

"Leah, you _will_ fight this battle and you will do it with no complaints." That was Sam's jurisdiction to her. "Any other objections?" He eyed me pointedly. I shook my head. "Good, you won't be fighting anyway. You'll be with Brady and Collin, sweeping the area."

I raised my chin. "Listen, _Sam._" I sneered. "Just because you're the Alpha, doesn't mean I'm not part of this pack and don't get a say in what I want to do. Wherever Seth goes, I go."

"It doesn't work that way."

"Then make it."

Sam looked at me with exasperated eyes and I took a step back from his face, letting my tough stance down. The poor guy was stressed to the limit, you could see it in his posture. "Fine." He sighed. "Lets work this out."

"Sam…" I started to apologize.

He shook his head and turned back to the leeches. That's when I saw it. The birthmark, the same one that he had pointed out on my neck only a few days ago, in the same place on his. My hand immediately flew to my own as my mind replayed the scene from the truck. It finally made sense, everything fit together.

Sam Uley was my brother.

The mind reader looked me in the eyes with a hint of a smile lifting on his face. "Get out of my head, bloodsucker." I hissed under my breath.

His smile got bigger. "He already knew, you know." His voice wasn't a whisper, it was loud and clear. So everyone could hear. "Well, he had his suspicions. He was hoping he was wrong though." I think he was getting me back for hating on his lover. "He doesn't like you, though I'm sure you already know. He thinks you're a waste to train, that your useless."

I growled at him, he wasn't threatened.

"Even you know it's true." He taunted. "Remember, I know everything." His index finger tapped his temple twice. I was ready to explode. I think both Seth and Sam knew what we were talking about and that I was going to go crazy, but they had no time to stop my actions. "Getting angry, she wolf?" He taunted.

I ran right up to the filthy bloodsucker and pushed him as hard as I could. "Do you want to see me get angry? Because I will and believe me, it _won't be pretty!_ I'll kill you! I won't wait for Jacob to come back, I'll murder you myself!"

The tall blonde male crouched in my face and snarled. I growled back, obviously sending a threatening message through his mate, the shorter one I'd assume, since she ran to his defence.

I shook and shivered and growled as loud as I could, ready to step over the border and kill the mind reader. I was about to jump when I was pulled backwards and into someone's tight grip. "That's enough!" Sam bellowed from in front of me.

He turned to me. "Are you trying start a war, Ashley?! Do you want to get us all _killed?_"

"Is that not what _you're _doing, Sam? Taking away everyone's free will and making them fight for something that doesn't even concern us? Are you not afraid of losing a family member?" I growled. "You're not a leader. You're someone whose afraid, who hides behind the authority to save your sanity."

"You have _no_ idea what it's like to be a leader."

I pondered that for a short second before I realised he was right. I'm not a leader, I never have been. "No, I don't know what it's like to be a leader. But I know what it's like to be afraid."

I moved as far away from him as possible, rocking on my heels back and forwards to try to calm myself down. I watched Carlisle talking to mind reader sternly while Bella kept a hand on his forearm and snuck cautious glances at me. I bared my teeth and she flinched away, causing Edward to meet my eyes. _Next time, you won't be so lucky._

Calming methods? Did not work, because two short minutes later, I exploded into a wolf and took off into the left side of the woods. My head was oddly silent as most of the wolves were out in human form, except Brady and Collin. I listened to their mindless chit chatter about adolescent boy stuff until they started talking about naked women.

I sighed, they'd been hanging around Paul too much.

To my absolute delight, I found I could run circles around them. Which is exactly what I did to release my pent up frustration, I ran for a half an hour. Then I heard the almost dead silent pop in the air.

_Ashley?!_

I skidded to a stop automatically when I heard his voice. _Seth! Come find me, I'm in a small clearing on the east side. _As an after thought, literally, I asked him if he remembered to bring me clothes.

_If I was a horn dog, I would have forgotten just to get you naked and have my wicked way with you in the field. But that's not me, so I'm guessing you know I did. _

_You're sixteen, kid. No more talking about sex, especially to your much older and matured girlfriend whose going to be eighteen in a few months. I'm a wolf, Seth, not a cougar. _

He chuckled. _It's a good thing I'm pure. _Even his wolf form seemed to radiate happiness as he trotted into the field looking like he didn't have a care in the world. His sandy fur seemed to glisten in the soaking rain and he grinned at me. _Turn around for a second._

I did so, managing to add in my snide comment before he phased back. _Have you ever thought that it might be me who wants to have my own way with you?_

My mind went silent and so did the air around me for a few moments. Seth's human laugh startled me. "Sweetheart, you never fail to amuse me. Now grow a couple of legs and change back, we have to talk." He tossed me the same sundress of Leah's from the other day and I mentally groaned. "Yes, you're in big trouble. Don't even try to make a run for it."

I blinked blearily, tired of imprint telepathy or whatever you want to call it spoiling my plans. Hoping he was turned like I was, I focused all my energy on relaxing and simmered back onto two feet. I threw the sundress overtop of my head and adjusted my boobs so they didn't look so… unsupported. Seth snickered.

I gasped, spinning around. "You were _watching_ me?"

"Baby, listen. I'm not a horn dog but when your, as you said, much older and matured girlfriend who is going to be eighteen in a few months, and who by the way is also extremely sexy, is stripping to nothing in front of you… It's tempting."

I glared at him. "But that's my backside you were looking at!"

"Yes, a very nice backside at that." He laughed and I lifted my hand up to smack him. He was quicker, dodging my fist and grabbing both my wrists with his hands, pulling me into his chest. "Hey, hey now. No need for violence." He pecked me on the forehead. "We need to talk."

_Oh boy._ "Seth…" I lifted my head up to lock eyes with him. "Honey, I'm really warn out right now. I mean I've just been go, go, _go _for the past few days and I don't really feel like having a mentally exhausting conversation with you." My arms escaped his death hold on my wrists to wind up around his neck and kiss him. "Please, I just want to go home and snuggle into my bed and sleep. Can you let me do that, please? For me?"

One arm wrapped around my waist, his other hand lifted to cradle the right side of my face. "Only if you promise to come over tonight."

"Well, I was going to anyways. Deal." I pressed my lips to his again happily, digging into the back of his neck with my nails. I could feel them pressing into his flesh, but he didn't even flinch. My open mouth was smashed so hard against his, our teeth were probably in risk of falling out.

My stomach burned with pure lust and not without great embarrassment, my ankle popped up and I hitched my leg over the back of his calf. He growled, I could feel the vibration of it course over my lips and tongue. I bit his bottom lip and pulled away slowly.

Laughter grew in my throat as his hands moved down past his waist and he squirmed around awkwardly. I tuned down the sweet desire in my mind and let it relax into something more calming and romantic. I placed my head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat and smothering my body's desire to be near him. One of his hands brushed over the length of my hair and came to rest tightly against my lower back, adjoining his other hand and linking his fingers.

"Love you." He whispered down into my ear.

"Love you more."

He chuckled. "Not possible." We stood like that for five minutes before he pulled away, kissing me again. "Lets go home beautiful, you should sleep before Sam and I lay the law down on you."

My anger built up in my veins until I looked up at Seth's boyish grin, one that was so charming and mature yet still managed to be so innocent. One that could easily take any girl's breath away, the one that belonged to me. Suddenly I was so calm, I almost fell over. "Easy, baby."

I laughed breathlessly. "I'm alright. Turn around, would you? For real this time. And we'll race." I watched him until he was facing the opposite way, hands flattened against his eyes while he wore a cheeky grin. I threw off the sundress, kicked it to his feet and phased.

He did the same and when I turned, I noticed the dress tied up around his ankle. _Ready, set…_

_Go!_ I thought, bursting forward with speed.

I laughed, it came out as a wolfy cough as I raced ahead of Seth, paws flinging up dirt. _No fair! _He whined. _You cheated._

_Alls fair in love and war._

_Then why's it called cheating? _

_So babies like you have a word to whine when they lose. _I chuckled and skidded to a stop outside the tree line, close to the Clearwater house. _Is Leah around?_

He trotted up beside me and gave his shoulders a shrug. _She might be, but I wouldn't go in there. She's mad._

_At me?_

_No, Sam. _

Hm, talking to an angry Leah or talking to a authorizing Sam? _I think I'll take my chances with Leah. She's less likely to yell at me… I think._

_Good luck. I'm off to Sam's, but don't worry, I'll tell him you're at home sleeping. _He wolf winked at me, licked my face, _gross, _and ran off in the other direction.

Well, here goes nothing.

I phased and threw on Leah's sundress, hoping she didn't yell at me for it because it was still not returned. The rain had let up so a lot of people were roaming in the streets in heavy jackets and puddle soaked boots. I was barefoot, in a dress that went down to my knees with spaghetti straps. I probably had twigs in my hair, which I hadn't gotten around to cutting yet, so the strange looks thrown my way were expected.

I just rolled my eyes, now knowing how annoying it was to have everyone staring and whispering about you, flipped my hair over my shoulder and walked the rest of the block to the Clearwater's. I didn't knock, I never did. Ever since Seth and I really started getting close, Sue treated me like a part of the family.

When I stepped in, I noticed Sue sitting in the kitchen through the living room arch, drinking a cup of coffee. Then I remembered the last time I was here I had gotten in a fight with Seth and threw her favourite vase at him, shattering it on the wall into a million pieces. I glanced to the table by the couch where it had been, to see it was still there, only taped together and crooked. I flinched, I should probably apologize.

"Ashley, come in here please." Sue called me, just as my hand reached out incidentally to touch the vase. I cringed back, knowing that she was probably just as scary as I, the she wolf, could ever try to be. I walked over and sat beside her on the chair. Surprisingly, she took my hand. "We need to talk."

Oh god, she's going to break my hand. "Sue, I'm _so _sorry about the vase. Seth was really pissing me off and you know how he can be! It was the she wolf, I swear!"

She laughed, tossing her head back so that her short hair fell to the back of her neck. "Forgiven and forgotten. You've done so much for me already."

"What are you talking about?"

She smiled. "You've not only reached through to Seth, but you've also helped my daughter. When she turned into a wolf… she wasn't supposed to be around other people who she could hurt. She lost all of her friends because of that, the people who helped her through her break up with Sam. She's so angry all the time and I couldn't do anything for her because she just wouldn't talk to me. Having you- having someone in the same situation as her has really helped. I think she considers you as her best friend, her confident. I've seen the changes, I've seen that little bit of effort she puts into her day. Thank you, Ashley."

I got teary eyed and my face flushed bright red. "It's not one sided you know."

"I know." She nodded.

"Is she here?"

"Up in her room. Please go and talk to her, she hasn't come out since she got back from the meeting with the…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "She won't talk to me, I don't know what's wrong. I think she might confide in you though, give it a shot." I got up out of my seat and she patted my hand.

Leah's room was at the end of the hallway, past Seth's and Sue's and the bathroom. It was shut, I rapped my fist twice. "Leah?"

I heard something, my hearing picked up muffled noises. She was trying to hide from me. "Leah!" I slammed my fist on the door so hard that it went right through. It had a lock on the inside and I was able to reach in the hole and unlock it. That's another thing I'd have to apologize for. "I'm coming in."

I heard her scrambled up from somewhere. "_No!_" She wasn't fast enough. I was already in and I froze.

"What did you do?" I asked in horror. A trail of blood was falling from her wrist to the ground and a deep cut started closing up right in front of my eyes. Her opposite hand dropped a razor to the ground.

I glanced at her face. She was crying. "It's not working!" She cried, falling to her knees. "I can't feel the pain."

I had never seen Leah cry. I've never heard of Leah ever crying, and you wouldn't think of her as vulnerable. She was tough as nails, hard as rock, she was a fighter. To see her so broken on the floor… "Why?"

"I thought… I thought I was getting over him!" She moaned. "It hurts, it _always _hurts! I can't even breathe around him!" She half sobbed, gasping for air. "I love him, I love him so much that it hurts. It's _killing _me. He doesn't care, ever. I hate him, hate him and I hate being a wolf. I want to _die!" _

I lowered down beside her and gently took her into my arms, waiting for her to protest in outrage. She was far too gone for that. Her chest heaved with hiccups and I could feel her tears soaking into my shoulder. I didn't know what to say, I couldn't find the words that needed to be used, to comfort her. So I just held her.

I don't know how long we sat there for, quietly. But at some point, she fell asleep, head lulled into the crevice of my collarbone while I was propped up against her bed. I watched her, creepy as that sounded, as the air ran easy through her lungs. Her mouth was frowning and she looked frustrated in her sleep, like she was having a nightmare.

My eyes were drooping, heavy from my lack of sleep and stressful day, my head lulled off to the side, forehead landing atop of Leah's head. I could feel a rhythmic ease take over my muscles…

Leah's broken bedroom door slammed open with a bang against the wall. My head shot up unlike hers, she just stirred and shifted.

I blinked blearily at Seth, who was standing in the doorway. "You're a moron, you know? I was just about to fall asleep and.."

"Meaghan's awake. And she's asking for you."

**A/N: Alright, now that this chapter is out, I want to know: What was your favourite line/scene or part from this story? Not just the chapter, but the whole story, if you can remember anything. I'd like to know!**


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: And I'm back from the dead. Amazing. Bravo, how do I do it? No excuses, beta myself, so enjoy if you're still reading! **

**And I love you guys. Just saying, if that helps ;)**

"Move!" I cried at the people loitering the hallways, pushing past them all. I was running as best as I could in a hospital, my legs moving as quick as I could. "Excuse me!"

I heard mumbled complaints and curses but no one dared to confront me to my face, seeing as I was tall, muscular and angry. Not to mention I had Seth, who was like a whole foot taller than probably everyone here, trailing behind me, trying to catch up. "Slow down." He murmured, grabbing my elbow. "Immediate family only, remember? I have to check in with a nurse or something."

I wrinkled my nose. "No need." I smelt him before I saw him. "Carlisle! I-ugh, _excuse _me!" I pushed past a group of people who had clustered in front of me. They glared at me, I could feel it in my back so I turned around and glared back. They shrunk back and scurried off and I heard Seth snickering in the background.

I didn't even need to ask, Carlisle just nodded and indicated for us to follow him up to the fourth floor. It was a mutual decision to take the stairs instead of standing in a cramped, enclosed elevator with no room to breathe. "She's right in here." He murmured, tapping once on a closed door and opening it. "Miss Monaghan, you have visitors."

She coughed. "Okay, who is it?" If I wasn't a wolf, I wouldn't have heard her clearly. She sounded like she was dying.

Carlisle whispered under his breath, "She had a tube in her mouth until earlier today, so her throat's a bit sore."

I nodded and stepped in. "Hey little sister." I whispered. The machine that was monitoring her heart was going wild, the beeping was out of control. "Carlisle, what-?"

"She's scared." Seth told me, eyeing her. "She looks just like Kim when we told her about Jared at the bonfire last year." His serious face melted away and he snickered at something, a memory probably. "That was a good bonfire."

I frowned, pushing all my hair back out of my face. "We're not going to hurt you." I promised her. "I'd never hurt you like he did." I watched the frantic beeping slowly fall back into a natural rhythm.

Carlisle was relieved. "I won't be far if anything else goes wrong, but I'll give you some privacy." The door shut with a soft click and I could hear him walking down the hallway.

She closed her eyes, seemingly struggling to breath out of her mouth. "He's not going to visit me, is he?"

I hesitantly walked towards her, grabbing a chair and pulling it up to the left side of the bed, refraining from grabbing her hand like I wanted to. Seth stood behind me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and kissing my head. "No. I'd kill him before he even got ten feet near you."

Her brows furrowed as she contemplated something and then her hand that was free from the iv came and grabbed mine. "Good." Her eyes fluttered open. "So you're a wolf too, huh?"

"How'd you know?" I asked her.

"Carlisle filled me in on everything before you got here. Wolves, vampires, imprinting…" She flinched. "Pack plural, the strength and speed and the temperature. He gave me a full detailed report."

I laughed. "Did you freak out?"

"Hm." She mumbled. "I fainted. He thought I had some sort of heart problem and that I was going into

cardiac arrest." Her face lifted into a smile and she gave a throaty chuckle.

I ran my thumb across her knuckles. "Well, everyone's dying to see you. They were waiting for you to wake up. I'm actually surprised that Embry-" And I was cut off by someone yelling.

"Meaghan!" My annoying cousin burst into the room.

dsI sighed. "Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear."

"Oh ha _ha_." Embry mocked, crossing his eyes at me. "Sam drove me here, he wants to speak to you. He's waiting in the lobby."

I was almost afraid. Sam was a time bomb. A calm, serious and collected time bomb. It looks harmless on the outside until you hear the subtle beeping noises and the louder and faster they get, the more they build up to their big explosion. And suddenly…

_BOOM!_

I nearly fell out of my seat when I jumped ten miles, flipping to my feet and growling. Then I opened my eyes.

Embry had knocked a tray off of Meaghan's nightstand and everyone was looking at me weirdly. I coughed. "Uh, I'll see you guys later." I mumbled, placing a hand over my racing heart and stalking out of the room faster than a normal human ever could.

I met Sam downstairs, falling back a step when I took in what he looked like. His little shaggy tuff of hair was brush neatly so that it fell messily away from his eyes. He looked like he had just shaved and instead of the ragged wife beater and shorts I was expected, he had on a faded pair of dark wash jeans and a tight black shirt. "Sam…" I trailed off. "What's up?"

"Can I take you out to eat?" He asked me awkwardly, gesturing to his fresh clothes.

I looked down. I was wearing the same sundress I had worn earlier today which had mud and grass stains all over it, my bare feet were caked with mud especially between my toenails and it covered my white flip flops. My hair was in no better shape. I grimaced. "Like this?"

He smiled a warm smile, the first one I had seen in a long time. It wasn't a patronizing smile or one of calm authority. I liked it, it seemed different. "I'd let you get ready first. Em wants to cut your hair herself. She even picked out an outfit for you…" I laughed. "Besides, I bet you're hungry."

"Starving actually. That sounds great, really." I tried to cover up the suspicion that was threatening to undertone my voice.

I think he caught it though, because his warm smile sort of smirked a bit at the side. "Then lets go."

* * *

An hour and a half later, I was a different person. My hair was gone. All of it, chopped to pieces and lying in a trashcan in the bathroom at Emily and Sam's. It went to the middle of my neck and it was too short and I hated it, but I have to admit that Em didn't do too shabby of a job.

She dressed me in a stupid, itchy blouse and stupid tight jeans with flats that were annoying because I was so used to going barefoot or wearing flip flops.

We walked to the only diner in La Push because it wasn't raining and I kept catching Sam looking at me out of the corner of his eye. "What?" I mumbled.

He sniggered. "I like the hair."

"I hate you."

He laughed again, loud and amused and his hand came out of his pocket and in an odd gesture, his arm swung itself around my shoulders and pushed me into his side. "You know that I'm kidding, right? I think it makes you look sophisticated. And beautiful."

"Woah okay there, King Kong. Where did all this sappy sibling bonding come from?" I accused, hitting him in the rib.

"I just feel bad about what…the Cullen said to you the other day. I really do, I hope you know that."

I gagged and tried to escape the death hold that his arm had on me and gave him an eye roll. "Oh please, save all that sugary sweet stuff for the candy shop, my brother." But I looked away as fast as I could, because my eyes had started to glisten and a single teardrop rolled down my cheek.

I lifted my hand up to brush my thumb against it, making it look like I was scratching my eye. Unfortunately he didn't buy it at all. "Are you crying?" He mumbled.

My lip quivered. "No…" A huge, thick lump filled my throat and I went to swallow but it triggered a few more tears dripping out of my eyes and down my cheeks. I wiped them furiously with my bare hands, turning further away from him.

He grabbed my elbow and pulled me around the corner of the building. "Hey, don't run away from me. Tell me what's wrong."

"I'm just so-so happy!" I blubbered. "All that mean stuff that the stupid bloodsucker said and I felt worthless. I thought that y-you didn't want me as your sister." I sniffled, trying to hold in my sobs. "I wanted to curl up in a hole and die. And now, I feel s-so accepted."

And in a spontaneous motion, my arms went around his waist and I pressed my wet face into his t-shirt. It wasn't awkward, like any physical contact was before we knew we were blood related, but it was nice. His chest was warm against my cheek and he smelt like musk.

It was a warm feeling, it was a nice feeling. A feeling of acceptance and belonging. I felt that we were truly family. His hand reached up to stroke my hair one time before it dropped down, gave me one big squeeze around the shoulders and released me.

His fingers reached up to wipe the tears that I missed and smiled at me. His eyes were glistening too, I noted. "Can we eat now?" He asked me, holding out his arm.

"Lead the way big brother." I gave him a mocking salute before I hooked my arm through his. "Oh sorry, big brother Sir."

I listened to his irritated sigh, felt his breath washing around the side of my face. "We can't have one nice moment without you being _you_, can we?" He grumbled.

I laughed out loud, almost like a loud coughing bark. "You know what? No I can't. I like being me. And besides, if I can't be me, who else am I supposed to be?"

"I'm not really sure who you are now, to be honest, with these dreadful locks." He sniggered at me, tugging on the ends.

"I should have just shaved my hair and bought a wig." I complained. "Oh by the way, I hate you."

His laugh was the first thing the people in the diner heard as we opened the doors.

"So what was he like?" I asked Sam, leaning over my huge basket of fries to sip my Coke without using my hands. The look on his face told me that he had no idea what I was talking about. "You know, Joshua? Or…Dad."

His face screwed up into a grimace, almost like he'd just shoved six lemons in his mouth and was now regretting it. "You're asking the wrong person. He left when I was just a kid, but I guess I know why now." I flashed my eyes to look down at the table, lead filling my stomach. "But I don't miss him. Apparently he was an ass."

The sound of Sam swearing released all the tension. "I didn't know you were capable of swearing." I said with a tiny smile.

"I don't blame you for it, for anything." He told me. "I really don't. Besides, from what I hear, you had a pretty terrible childhood too."

I snorted. "You could put it that way. A girl with 'daddy issues.' Every horny male's dream."

"Why do you talk about yourself like that?"

"I always used to feel sorry for myself I guess. I mean if I didn't, nobody else would." I shrugged. "But I got over that phase. I guess I thought it wouldn't feel as bad at home if I degraded myself as well."

Sam gazed at me, held my stare with those big eyes of his that held way too much wisdom than they should. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not."

He struggled internally with a silent conflict before he decided on asking, "Why?" I watched his nose wrinkle up, as he thought he went too far. I tucked the right side of my hair behind my ear and closed my eyes, trying to master the same hardcore serious look that Sam always gives. I opened them, trying to display all my knowledge on my face, trying to sound like I knew what I was talking about.

"Because I'm here."

And the silence that surrounded us after that lasted almost all the way to the end of lunch.

* * *

"Worst haircut?" I asked Sam, sitting in the front of his truck, hands folded behind my head, feet up on the dashboard as we sat in his driveway.

"I was seven, my mom decided she was going to go hair dresser on me and give me a bowl cut. She literally put a bowl over my head and cut around it. The worst part? She couldn't even get the sides even." His face tinged pink. "Most humiliating period of my life. Hmm, favourite Beatle?"

"Why, did the bowl cut remind you of them? That's easy, all of them."

"Pick one only."

I sighed. "Paul McCartney. I think he's sexy."

He snickered. "He's old though, I personally think John Lennon is a God to music."

"A brother after my own heart." I mocked, wiping away a non existent tear. "First love?" And at his look and eye roll, I sighed. "Okay fine, first celebrity crush?"

"The Spice Girls." He answered immediately.

I can't deny that I was shocked. "Which one?"

He grinned at me. "All of them."

"Pervert." I muttered.

He laughed. "You asked. Alright, when and where was your first kiss?"

_My first kiss._ Yeah, it wasn't every girl's fairytale dream. Images that I've tried to forget came flooding back to my memory, my lips tingling with disgust, the feeling of his lips on mine. _Dirty, disgusting, slimy. _I turned to look out the window. "I don't remember." I muttered in a hard, final tone. "Worst school picture?"

And so it went on. We sat in that truck for hours, not acknowledging any of the wolves that passed in and out of the house. The rain that had started up an hour ago had finally dimmed down, the slightest bit of a drizzle was the only thing left. When the sky got darker than usual, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket to check the time. I jumped in surprise when I noticed it was six thirty. "I've got to go." I said regretfully.

"It's fine, I should probably be getting inside too. I think Emily's delaying dinner until I decide I'm ready to go in, and I don't want her going hungry." We both jumped out of our respected ends of the truck, slamming the doors shut at the same time and meeting up in front of it. I reached up to give him a squeeze in parting. "One last question. Favourite memory?"

"Well, that's still being decided isn't it?" I teased, turning my back to him and throwing my hand up in goodbye as I walked away. "See you tomorrow!"

"We need to start training soon!" He called after me.

"What?" I yelled back, pretending not to hear him.

"Training!"

"What?"

"Trai- _oh for heaven's sake! _Don't pretend you can't hear me Ashley!"

I laughed. "Goodnight Sam!"

He muttered something that distinctly sounded like '_I hate you._' And instead of running home as a wolf or as a human for that matter, I let my good mood hang around in the air around me as I strolled leisurely through the streets, whistling as I went.

"_Blackbird singing in the dead of night,_" I sung as I neared my porch. "_Take these broken wings and learn to fly._" Inside the kitchen was Sophie and she was looking like she had the other day, since her and Embry started fighting. Miserably horribly. "Aunt Sophie!" I exclaimed.

She dropped the wooden spoon she was holding with a gasp. "Don't scare me like that!" She exclaimed. "Nearly fr- _oh!_ Your hair looks…"

"Terrible?"

"I was going to say different."

"Yeah I'm sure. I know, I look like crap. Don't rub it in." I sighed, flopping into a chair near her. "Where's Em? What have you been doing today? Is dinner ready yet?"

She redeemed her nerves, retrieved her wooden spoon and went about stirring something. "Hospital. Nothing. Almost."

"What are we having?" I asked, pausing and inhaling. "Wait never mind. Spaghetti with meat sauce? Yum. I am actually starving."

"What else is new?" She teased me with a heavy tone. "Embry said he was supposed to be home soon. In fact, I thought it was with you? Where have you been?"

I shrugged. "I wasn't with him, I was with Sam all afternoon. Maybe he's still up at the hospital, cause Meaghan woke up, did you hear? You know _that's _why he's there and not for some life threatening injury?"

She nodded vaguely. "Yes, I did. I was going to visit her today actually but-" She paused and her tone got softer. "I thought I'd let you go first. Anyways, now that you're here, I meant to talk to you about something. I wanted to let you know that even though we're not technically blood related anymore-"

I cut her off. "Aunt Sophie.."

"I'm sorry, I'll stop. Too sentimental? I meant I'm glad you're still calling me _Aunt _Sophie, but-"

Something was wrong. "No, that's not it. I have to go."

"What?" She asked, shocked. "Where on Earth could you possibly have to go now?"

I paused for two heartbeats, the thump of each one individually ringing in my ears. The uneasy feeling crept up into my stomach, my hands started to sweat and slowly each of my fingers started to shake individually. The anxiety crept up my neck and it felt like someone was watching me. No, not someone.. Something. Something evil. The shaking broke up my arms, and my skin started to break out in little Goosebumps. "Don't move." I whispered, and I spun around to the window as fast as I could, just quick enough to catch a glimpse of flying red hair.

I had seen that hair in the minds of all my wolves. Victoria.

She was playing games.

"Aunt Sophie, just stay where you are!" I yelled as I made a mad dash out the door, fighting the urge to scream as my body ripped and my limbs tried to crack in strange ways that I wasn't quite used to. I ran, still on two legs, in her direction.

And when I was too far to be in a place where I could have access to a phone or change my course and go back, I realised that I had never called for help. And that was a very, very stupid move. Because as fast as I was, she was faster. And she was cunning, she wanted to play games.

So I was hardly prepared as she swung from the treetops and pounced on me while I was in my human form.

_Fuck._

**A/N: Yes, I know it was semi short ESPECIALLY because I've definitely been MIA, but at least I got it up ;)**


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